The fight is on to keep public notices in Texas newspapers

The 88th Texas Legislature has set a record for the number of bills filed in a single session — 9,114 by the March 10 deadline. Of those, 1,086 were filed on the last day. Needless to say, your Texas Press Association legislative team is swamped as we sift through the pile and identify bills that would affect public notices in newspapers.

Analysis by MIKE HODGES and DONNIS BAGGETT, Texas Press Association

Many of those bills would retain newspaper notices as the standard for Texas governmental bodies, resulting in increased transparency and government accountability, so TPA enthusiastically supports them. But a number of others would eliminate newspaper notices or make them optional, which would be bad for transparency, bad for accountability and bad for newspapers, which have published and archived notices faithfully since Texas was a republic. Needless to say, we adamantly oppose those.

Sound familiar? It should. Every January in an odd-numbered year, some legislators roll into Austin eager to bury the notices that were designed to force government to operate in the sunshine. Their argument: Newspapers are dying and most people get their news on their cellphones now, so why spend taxpayers’ money for a print newspaper notice? Government officials posting on their own websites would be cheaper and more effective, right?

Wrong, of course. Not many Texans start their day probing the depths of a government website to see if a company is requesting a permit to discharge pollutants in the air or water. Nor should they have to. And cheaper? By law, newspapers can charge only their lowest advertised classified rate for public notices.

For that low price, today’s Texas newspapers print and distribute the print notice, archive it and provide an affidavit of publication — the four pillars of an inalterable, verifiable permanent record. Additionally, a new software program called Column empowers readers to search and sort notices on their hometown newspaper’s website, in another paper elsewhere in Texas, or on TPA’s aggregated statewide website, TexasPublicNotices.com — which is also archived. Readers can even sign up for email notifications whenever their chosen type of notice is filed in their hometown or anywhere in the state.

These high-tech tools come at no extra charge to the reader, to the governmental entity placing the notice, or to the newspaper publishing it. The result: More eyeballs on public notices than ever, which means the taxpayer is getting a better deal than ever.

The historic, long-term dependability of print newspapers combined with these robust new digital features gave rise to legislation championed by TPA for this session. Filed first as HB 2178 in the House by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, it is listed as SB 943 in the Senate, where its author is Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham.

Both Hunter and Kolkhorst are stalwart supporters of TPA and have consistently advocated for transparency and accountability over their years of service. Hunter was recently appointed chair of the powerful House State Affairs Committee by Speaker Dade Phelan. Kolkhorst chairs the influential Senate Health and Human Services Committee and is a key lieutenant of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

If passed, HB 2178/SB 943 will make the new combination of print and digital newspaper features the new legal gold standard for Texas public notice requirements. The bill states that for a general circulation newspaper to qualify for paid public notices, it must do what most Texas papers are doing already — post the notices outside its digital paywall and on TPA’s free regularly updated website, in addition to providing traditional print publication services. If the bill becomes law, it should cement newspapers’ position as the designated publishers, distributors, certifiers and archivists for public notices in Texas. It definitively addresses criticism by officials who claim that declining print circulation makes newspaper notices less effective.

Another great newspaper notice bill is HB 159 by Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa. If passed into law, this legislation will restore a requirement for a newspaper notice of final action on a change to your local tax rate calculation. That longtime notice requirement was deleted in a last-minute conference committee rush to ramrod a tax measure into law a few years ago. Rep. Landgraf, a strong advocate for newspaper notices and other transparency measures, filed an identical bill last session attempting to restore the notice, but was unsuccessful. He refused to give up, and was eager to try again this session. We are working on confirming a Senate author for the measure.

HB 2761 by Landgraf is yet another strong transparency and accountability bill requiring both statewide and local newspaper notices, plus a public hearing. The notices would be for “standard permit” requests to allow emission of air contaminants from a facility providing material for a public works project such as a road, water system, bridge, underground utility, wastewater plant or airport runway or taxiway.

On the dark side of the ledger, here are summaries of four bad public notice bills that we’re fighting so far.

HB 622 by Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano: This is the latest in a series of attempts by Shaheen to effectively kill newspaper notice. This measure,which did not get a committee hearing two years ago, would allow using alternatives to general-circulation newspaper notice — social media, free-distribution newspapers, school newspapers, homeowners association newsletters, utility bills, direct mail, and other measures authorized by the state comptroller — as long as their circulation exceeds that of the newspaper.

HB 2369 by Rep. Stan Kitzman, R-Pattison: This bill would eliminate a newspaper notice requirement for applications to discharge pollutants into Texas waters. Instead, it would allow posting of the permit applications solely on the website of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.

HB 2574 by Rep. Stan Lambert, R-Abilene: This is another bill that failed in a previous session. It would eliminate required newspaper notice for the sale of property to enforce a lien held by a self-storage facility. The seller would have the option of providing notice by any “commercially reasonable manner.”

HB 657 by Rep. Ernest Bailes, R-Shepherd: This is another familiar measure that did not receive a committee hearing last session. It would give government entities the option of posting their notices on a “third party internet website,” as long as it is less expensive than a newspaper notice.

There are others, but you get the drift. Stay tuned, help us out if we ask you to call your lawmakers, and send prayers and coffee. We’ll be burning a lot of midnight oil between now and Memorial Day.