Wisconsin: New venues for legal notices?

Wisconsin: New venues for legal notices?

	Published : Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:47 By : Agencies Print this Story

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Local governments could post legal notices online, mail them or publish them in free newspapers under a pair of Republican bills that could save them money but would deprive paid newspapers of revenue.

State law has required municipalities to publish legal notices in newspapers for more than a century. The mandate equates to a steady stream of revenue for papers, which sell space for the notices just as they would to other advertisers.

The new legislation's supporters say the measures could save municipalities thousands of dollars. Critics counter the changes could make legal notices harder to find.

'The unintended consequence of this legislation would be less information for citizens than at the present,' Wisconsin Newspaper Association Executive Director Peter Fox said. 'People just simply will not take the time out of their busy, busy lives to go and check up on government.'

Legal notices include government ordinances, meeting notices, resolutions and even zoning changes.

State law requires them to be published in newspapers with paid subscriptions. Fox said the law was crafted to ensure people have a chance to see what government is doing beyond press coverage.

Green Bay Deputy City Clerk Anita Raleigh estimated her city pays the Press-Gazette from $2,000 to $3,000 a month to publish notices.

But the bills could change all that.

Rep. Carol Owens' measure would give municipalities the choice of posting notices online or publishing them in a newspaper. Owens, R-Oshkosh, said Wisconsin's laws should adjust for new technology that can reach more people than traditional newspapers.

'You provide it online and you serve more people,' Owens said. 'That kind of makes sense to me.'

Rep. Sue Jeskewitz, meanwhile, has introduced a separate measure that would allow municipalities to mail notices directly to 'affected' people and place them in free newspapers.

'I don't know why we have a monopoly for years and years and years,' said Jeskewitz, R-Menonomee Falls, referring to paid newspapers having the right to publish notices.

Owens said opposition from the newspaper industry is based on fear of losing revenue. The WNA's Fox responded that lost revenue is a factor, but only a small one. Money from legal notices make up only a small percentage of most newspapers' ad revenue.

More than three-fourths of respondents in an Iowa Newspaper Association survey said local governments should be required to publish legal notices in a newspaper. Less than 10 percent of respondents said they would be have ry likely' to seek out legal notices online.

Fox said the study shows people tend to go to the Internet for e-mail, entertainment and to find specific bits of information. They don't generally browse government Web sites, he said.

As for Jeskewitz's bill, Fox said the mail offers no guarantee of receipt and government notices belong in papers that cover government.

No one wants to hide information, said Craig Thompson, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Counties Association, which is pushing both bills.

'We are looking for alternative, cheaper ways to publish it,' he said.

Neither bill provides an estimate on municipalities' savings.

Bob Delaporte, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said he wasn't sure how Huebsch felt about the bills. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said Robson wants to know the bills wouldn't hurt access to notices.