“It’s really important to get out ahead and show (the Legislature) how proactive your press association is in making sure that anybody who wants to see the notice online can see it online,” Rush said.

TPA and TDNA contracted with  nextPression to create TexasLegalNotices.com. The company is contacting all Texas newspapers and coordinating with the newspapers to get their notices online.

TPA encourages all newspapers to sign up for the site and post their legal notices. The site will be a valuable tool next year to demonstrate to the state Legislature that newspapers are the best stewards of public notice.

Rush and Chima’s presentation helped bring awareness to the importance of public notice. At the national level the Public Notice Resource Center was founded five years ago and is an invaluable resource for newspapers to help maintain transparency in government.

The PNRC partners with press associations, including TPA, to provide public notice resources for newspapers and to research trends, successes and failures in public notice.

Chima is the PNRC executive director and can help newspapers with legal notice issues. Contact her through the PNRC Web site.

Rush said PNRC research has identified four key elements to public notice.

First, public notice must be published in an independent forum, Rush said.

Third, public notice must be accessible, and fourth, the notice has got to be verifiable.

“Public records are the only piece of accountability that’s a push by the government. It doesn’t require you to go make a public records request, it’s the government being proactive and mandated to get information out,” Rush said.

Rush hit key points on why newspapers make a better vehicle for public notice than a government Web site, including affidavits, access and verification.