In a move sure to get the newspaper association’s hackles up, Rep. Tom Brunner (R-29/Nisland) has filed a bill to allow some local governments to post their official documents online instead of in print.
House Bill 1142 establishes criteria for establishing an official website for legally mandated publication of notices, minutes, bids, or other documents from city councils, county commissions, and school boards. That privilege would go to “Any county, municipality, or school district with less than forty percent of the population served by an eligible legal newspaper….” HB 1142 determines “population served” by paid circulation minus returned or undistributed copies, paid mailed subscriptions, and (noteworthily, given HB 1142’s Internet bent) electronic subscriptions.
HB 1142 counts circulation based on the circulation statements newspapers must file with the Secretary of State. I don’t have those figures, but we can guesstimate from the figures the South Dakota Newspaper Association offers. As I noted last June, Sioux Falls, Pierre, Brookings, Rapid City, Spearfish, and Aberdeen are all served by newspapers whose daily circulation is less than 40% of their city population. If I’m reading HB 1142 correctly, that means those six cities’ councils could post their documents on a designated official website “in addition to the publication, or in lieu of the publication” of those documents in their local newspapers.
HB 1142 doesn’t free local governments completely from dealing with the papers. Section 5 says local governments still have to publish at least two notices a year in the newspaper telling people about the official website and wherever else citizens can get official documents. Section 5 also requires the local government to provide print or e-mail copies of documents to any resident who requests them. Local governments also have to set up some sort of subscription system that will allow interested residents to receive copies of the information “on an ongoing basis by mail or electronic communication… at the expense of the governing body.”
Section 3 of HB 1142 requires that any jurisdiction availing itself of the online publication option must have at least one library or other publicly accessible location where folks can go online without charge. Section 6 requires that the local government send a copy of each required document to its official newspaper and keep a copy available for public inspection at its own business office.