Dallas Morning News
Guest Column
There is a galaxy of mandates that state law places on local governments, based on common sense.
One is a section requiring open records and open government. That makes it a crime for city council or school board members to do the public’s business in back halls or over the phone.
The prevailing rationale is shining the light of day, to the greatest degree possible, on decisions that have an impact on the public.
That principle is not upheld, unfortunately, in several bills filed in Austin this year that would shift legal notices away from newspaper publishing and onto government websites.
Local governments – counties, cities and school boards – are now required to take out legal notices for certain bids, purchases and meetings. It’s the established, reliable way to assure wide distribution to both citizens and to potential bidders that want a piece of business with local government.
Substituting some or all of those legally required notices with self-published government notices weakens public access and opens the door to mischief.
A local government’s notice to bidders involves big contracts paid out of the public till, and government shouldn’t be self-publishing for that business on their own websites. A third, independent party assures an arm’s-length relationship with a verifiable, permanent record of the notice.
Current publication requirements guarantee a broad spectrum of readership, well beyond internet users who may visit an agency’s website. Notices in newspapers are typically published online as well, multiplying the number of potential readers. The number of visitors to a government website is dwarfed by total newspaper and online newspaper readership.
In addition, the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and Texas Press Association maintain a website – texaslegalnotices.com – that benefits potential bidders. The site provides a searchable database of current foreclosure, meeting and business notices taken out in newspapers.
Local governments are free to post those notices on their websites as well, for the sake of even wider distribution. Some do that now, and they should be commended for keeping information as accessible as possible. Scaling back that level of access is not in keeping with the same spirit.
The author of one bill (HB 1668), Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, said she filed it in response to requests from local school administrators and teachers who are looking to trim operating costs and potentially save jobs. We respect the motivation, but the legislation could defeat that goal by crimping the number and quality of bids. Taxpayers might not be pleased with that turn of events.
Today’s public-notice laws have worked well to keep government dealings out in the open. Weakening that effort would be an experiment with too high a threat of backfire.
Public-notice bills
• HB 507, authors Angie Chen Button, R-Garland, and Diane Patrick, R-Arlington – Would allow school districts, cities and counties to self-publish, on their internet sites, a portion of legally required public notices, as opposed to the current requirement of two newspaper notices
• HB 1668, author Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving – Would allow school districts to self-publish all public notices, on their internet sites, with no requirement of newspaper notices
• HB 1082, author Hubert Vo, D-Houston – Would allow smaller school districts to self-publish, on their internet sites, all public notices if no newspaper is published in the district
• HB 1833, author Mark M. Shelton, R-Fort Worth – Would drop the requirement of newspaper publication for certain notices of hearings and meetings by school board members
Reprinted with permission of Dallas Morning News
