Another attempt to change public notices in North Carolina. It’s still a bad idea. | Editorial

Once again, a bill has surfaced in the General Assembly that proposes trimming a government expense without accounting for its cost to democracy.

This time it’s Senate Bill 80, offered by Sen. Lisa Grafstein (D-Wake) entitled “Broaden Electronic Notice Authorization.” It would exempt 11 of Wake County’s 12 municipalities from a state law that requires notices of public hearings and other government notices to be published by a local newspaper in print or online. Instead, the notices could be posted on the town’s website. Raleigh did not sign on to the bill because, a city official said, the city thinks “public engagement in all forms is important.”

The bill would apply to Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Morrisville, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Wendell and Zebulon. It would save the towns the cost of publishing their notices through newspapers, but it would leave more citizens unaware of government actions.

NC lawmakers have tried to do this multiple times across the state in recent years.

It’s true that legal notices are not avidly read by most newspaper readers, but they are read by lawyers, business operators, environmental and neighborhood activists and people curious about the fine print of government operations. There is a reason, after all, there is a state law requiring the publication of notices. And newspapers, through print and online, reach a far wider audience than an obscure town website.

It’s also significant that a notice published by a newspaper becomes part of an independent archive. That provides extra protection against notices being lost to a computer system switch, or being deliberately deleted, altered or hacked. In addition to individual newspaper archives, the North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) hosts a website, NCnotices.com, that allows for the search of public notices throughout North Carolina.

NCPA describes the government notices that require publication in North Carolina as including “information pertaining to notice of meetings, proceedings or minutes of meetings, elections, annexations, budgets, property taxes and hearings, delinquent payments, ordinances, foreclosures and many other vital official matters of government entities.”

Newspapers have a clear interest in continuing to publish notices from local governments. It’s a source of revenue. But the public also has an interest in having public notices published outside of government. The practice adds to government transparency and reduces the risk of government officials manipulating or burying information that the public deserves and needs to know.

The digital age has made publishing information easier and cheaper. No one knows that better than newspapers. But publication on a town website can’t replace the reach of newspapers online and in print. While digital information has exploded, there are still many people without access to the internet, or who are simply uninterested in navigating through websites.

This bill to “Broaden Electronic Notice Authorization” would actually narrow it. Lawmakers should oppose it.

This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Another attempt to change public notices in North Carolina. It’s still a bad idea. | Editorial."