Legislation to End Mandated Charge for Legal Notices and Creation of Free State Site Gets Hearing
Thursday, June 03, 2021
For 70 years, newspapers such as the Providence Journal have enjoyed a law state mandating that the state, cities and towns, and the public must pay for legal notices to placed in the “newspaper of record.” They have made tens of millions.
Governors Lincoln Chafee and Gina Raimondo had tried to repeal the mandates over the past seven years, but were blocked by Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello.
Now, there is an effort to repeal the mandate and provide for a more accessible public database that can be searched and there is no charge.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAnd there may be a sea change. In April in an interview with GoLocal, when asked, Speaker of the House JoeShekarchi discussed the Rhode Island statute mandating that the state and municipalities spend millions of dollars posting legal notices to the "paper of record" -- which currently has fewer than 30,000 subscribers and is own ed by an out-of-state company.
"[That's a] compelling point," said Shekarchi, of why the state and cities are still burdened with the legal notice publication costs -- when legal notices could be posted to a state website for free. "If anyone came forward with a proposal, we'd certainly consider it."
It is estimated that the cost to the state and city and towns to pay for legal notices is $1.5 million. The Providence Journal now has a circulation of less than 30,000 or less than 3% of the state's population, but yet is able to claim it is the "newspaper of record" due to a 1950s law.
"If the bill came to the floor I would vote for it," said Shekarchi of repealing the statute.
Lawmakers Make Case for Repeal
The House sponsor of the legislation to real the mandate Thomas Noret (D-Dist. 25, West Warwick) said in a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the bill he is offering would provide a new option that would save millions of dollars and would allow the communities to continue to advertise. Noret’s bill would create a statewide centralized database that is fully accessible to the public.
“There are a number of reasons why an ancient law that mandates the state, cities and towns and well as businesses and in some cases individuals to pay hundreds and thousands of dollars to pay for a legal notice should be modernized,” said Josh Fenton, CEO and co-founder of GoLocal24 the RI-based news organization.
The League of Cities and Towns testified in favor of the legislation.
“Over the last year, there have been calls for increased transparency and easy access for the public to engage in municipal meetings, especially those where public comment is made. Representative Noret’s bill will expand upon an already centralized posting system for public meetings that the Secretary of State’s office manages. In addition to preparing advertisements for publication in local newspapers, cities and towns are currently required to post public meetings, including public hearings, on the Secretary of State’s website to fulfill the requirements of the Open Meetings Act,” said Jordan Day, Policy Director for the League in written testimony.
"Advertisements for public hearings cost cities and towns tens of thousands of dollars a year. By decreasing advertisement costs, communities would be able to put those dollars directly back into services. Additionally, under the current system, the public must pay for a subscription or issue in order to access this public information. As we have seen with virtual public meetings, providing free access to information has greatly enhanced participation in local decision-making," added Day.
Mark Ryan, a lobbyist for Gannett, owners of the Providence Journal, The Newport Daily News, and more than 200 other newspapers across the country, argued against the creation of a public, no charge statewide database.
At Wednesday's hearing, Ryan argued that newspaper legal notices are “archivable and verifiable.” But on the Providence Journal website, older legal notices are difficult to search, and the newspaper charges for previous stories. Other newspapers do not maintain archives for former legal notices.
Ryan said that a statewide website with “no charge” legal notices would not be accessible to some Rhode Islanders — nearly 85% of Rhode Islanders have internet access.
However, as Fenton and Noret testified, an online state site would dramatically increase accessibility. Notices would also be searchable and they would be available in perpetuity.
Fenton said, “This law is from 70 years ago — when there was a thing called a 'newspaper of record' and the Providence newspaper had a weekday circulation of greater than 200,000 each weekday. Now, as reported by Ted Nesi of WPRI, the Providence Journal’s weekday paid print circulation is subscribed to by about 2.8% of the population — just 29,000.”
“Today, the Providence Journal, a subsidiary of the Gannett Corporation of Virginia, is receiving millions in mandated subsidies from cities and towns, the state and regular Rhode Islanders who have to pay for legal ads — communities and folks are mandated to pay to advertise things like zoning change or a bankruptcy,” said Fenton.
“In the past 22 months, the City of Providence has paid the Providence Journal $186,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $105,000 year to date in 2021, according to city records,” added Fenton.
ACLU and Common Cause submitted testimony and Steve Brown testified, “We acknowledge that newspapers are no longer the single best way to reach the largest audience. A majority of households no longer subscribe to a print version of a daily newspaper. However, the alternative proposed here, a website maintained by the Secretary of State, has different flaws when it is designed to serve as the sole method of public notification rather than as a supplement to other forms of notice.“ Brown suggested that the issue be studied.
And, the publisher of Valley Breeze Jamie Quinn, the Virginia-owned northern Rhode Island newspaper, said in written testimony, "Just in this past week, our newspapers contain 40 different legal and/or public notices representing all 10 of the communities we cover in Northern Rhode Island."
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