Informed public worth the meager cost

This editorial originally appeared in the Friday edition of the Juneau Empire.

Newspapers exist because people need an independent, third-party voice to tell them what is happening. History is filled with examples of people who manipulated the public by spewing imperfect truths and perpetuating distorted realities. An independent, free press holds the powerful accountable, uplifts the weak and exposes what has been buried.

Last year, members of the Alaska Legislature, led by several Mat-Su legislators, proposed a bill that would shift public notices from the pages of the state’s newspapers to a government-run website. These notices cover things like requests for bid, auctions of public property, meeting agendas, name changes — the boring grist behind government’s bread.

That bill was defeated, partly because of the opposition of newspapers. Unfortunately, the well-intentioned but misguided proposal has returned in the form of Senate Bill 36, which would allow the state and municipalities to avoid posting public notices in the state’s newspapers. The notices would instead be posted on a government-run website that few of you visit and even fewer visit regularly.

We oppose this new bill, just as we opposed the last one. Government can’t adequately police itself without strict checks and balances. Requiring third-party publication of government actions is one of these checks and balances.

We fear that if state and municipal governments are left to police their own public notices, the system becomes open to manipulation. This manipulation need not be malicious; it could simply be manipulation by neglect. A mistyped link is broken, so bidders fail to show up to an auction of state property. The date of a meeting is changed, but the notice of the new location and time is buried and no one shows up to testify their opposition. A convicted child molester or felon changes their name, but the public is never made aware.

These are the kinds of notices that could easily fall through the cracks.

Even without an accident, a notice posted on the back corner of a rarely visited and often poorly designed website will be nothing more than a faded sign on an empty road.

You read this newspaper for information. There is no better way to share information than to put it in the first place people look.

Virginia toyed with similar legislation in 2011, and a survey of residents found that 94 percent believed it was important to continue publishing legal notices in newspapers. We think Alaskans would heartily agree.

Backers of SB 36 say their bill is being driven by finances, that with falling state and municipal revenue, governments can’t afford the few thousand dollars per year that it takes to publish their public notices. What they aren’t calculating is the added expense of managing the content and providing added security measures to ensure hacking or tampering doesn’t become a problem.

This newspaper does charge to run meeting notices. We must do so. If part of our mission is the equal, impartial treatment of all, that means charging government to run a notice, just as we would charge an organization like the Elks, the Pioneers of Alaska or a tribal organization.

SB 36 is being backed by the Municipality of Anchorage, which has an annual budget in excess of $830 million. For that organization to plead poverty over no more than, say, $20,000 to $50,000 per year (low estimate is what we’ve been told, the high is our own educated guess), is the equivalent of you throwing a tantrum over a lost dollar. The action is out of proportion to the cause.

Posting on a website that few people frequent is not the equivalent of notifying the public. Consumer watchdogs would never allow an insurance or cell phone company to post a change to an individual policy or plan on their website instead of calling or mailing a notice to the customer.

We should expect our government to make the same kind of outreach to the public that it requires of private business. We’re not just talking about meetings but tax and zoning changes as well.

Cost-cutting is a noble goal, but when it comes at the expense of an informed public, the meager price is worth it.

Senate Bill 36 gets its first hearing at 8 a.m., Thursday in the Senate State Affairs Committee. Mat-Su Sen. Bill Stoltze chairs that committee. Contact him at 866-465-4958, or by e-mail at Senator.Bill.Stoltze@akleg.gov.