Bill To End Newspaper Public Notices Fails

Wyoming newspapers might have been more than just a little nervous when a bill to end printing legal and public notices in local newspapers failed in committee.

House Bill 201 would have allowed governments to post the legal notices online, thus saving local governments a lot of money. Those notices include government meeting times and legal issues.

The advertising is mandated by law. But, local governments argued, since this information can be posted faster and at almost no cost on governments own website, why pay for it to be printed in the local paper? Most of this information is already on local government websites.

Laramie County budgets around $80,000 a year for legal notices.

Rep. Richard Tass, R-Buffalo, was worried about depriving the few people who still read newspapers but who can’t, or won’t use the internet.