Pushing public notices to government websites is a bad move State Senate bill endangers taxpayer protection

Legislation in the Pennsylvania Senate risks allowing local governments to operate in the shadows, leaving taxpayers unaware of decisions affecting their pocket-books, their communities, and their quality of life.

- by William M. Cotter, President Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association

State Senate Bill 194, sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Franklin), would allow school districts and municipal and county governments the option of posting meeting and other legally required public notices on their websites instead of publishing them in newspapers, the trusted source of public notices for generations.

Proponents of SB 194 believe the bill offers a modernization of the Newspaper Advertising Act that mandates where public notices be published.

The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association calls SB 194 bad for government transparency, accountability, and, ultimately, taxpayer protection.

Public notices keep the public informed about government activity, allowing them to weigh in on zoning, public school construction, taxes, and other local issues before official decisions are made.

SB 194 is a short-sighted attempt to give the government what it wants: diminished public oversight. In other words, the bill creates a serious conflict of interest for the local government, whose authority becomes the fox guarding the henhouse.

Government websites must never be allowed to satisfy Pennsylvania’s legal requirement for public notice publication because: