In Government We Trust?
Who will watch the watchmen?
If certain members of our Wyoming Legislature have their way, House Bill 298 will ensure the watchmen will watch themselves.
If you are reading this, then you are one of the more than 400,000 Wyoming residents who read your local newspaper either in print or online. Chances are, you are also part of the 78% who read public notices in your local newspaper or the 68% who believe state and local governments should be required to publish public notices in newspapers as a service to the community.
For more than a century Wyoming newspapers have published public notices in a way which makes them the most accessible to you, the public. Meeting minutes, zone changes, rate increases and more are published in newspapers available to read on newsstands, at schools, local libraries and senior centers.
This accessibility gives Wyoming residents more than just required notice, it gives them the power to advocate for themselves.
In Encampment, community members successfully organized an effort in 2018 to oppose the construction of a cell tower following a public notice published in the Saratoga Sun.
In Laramie County, residents successfully filed suit against Anadarko Petroleum Corporation—and its parent company Occidental Petroleum Corporation—over mineral rights. The residents noted the importance of public notices in regards to individual mineral rights. Public notices regarding lease agreements filed by Anadarko alerted multiple stakeholders and gave them evidence to protect their mineral rights.
You could just read your paper every week. There was a listing of APDs (Advanced Planning Notice) filed by Anadarko with the gas and oil Commission and the classified thing on the back. If you look, if you know your legals, you could watch them march across the county, blocking everything.
Most notably, following public notices published in local newspapers regarding a proposed rate increase from Rocky Mountain Power, Wyoming residents showed up at public meetings in force. This resulted in the Public Service Commission re-examining the proposal and reduced the total amount of the rate increase.
Even more important, public notices are archived by your local newspaper and at the Wyoming State Archives thus providing a vital, permanent record.
In Byron, for example, Mayor Pam Hopkinson needed to find a public notice which had been published in 2012 regarding the sale of an old school building. The Town of Byron didn’t have a copy of the notice in their files, but it could easily be found in the archives of the Lovell Chronicle.
House Bill 298 would undo all of that.
This bill, introduced late in the legislative session, intends to create a centralized electronic notice system maintained by the Secretary of State’s Office. In short, the government would keep an eye on the government. This should be reason enough for anyone to oppose this bill, however there are additional reasons to voice your opposition.
To begin with, a centralized electronic notice system has already been established by the Wyoming Press Association, which represents all legal newspapers in the state. Daily and weekly newspapers in Wyoming upload public notices to this website—which is freely available to the people of Wyoming—to ensure the most notice for the residents of our great state. This online and mobile-friendly website is easily searchable by municipality, county, publication and date.
Why spend taxpayer money to reproduce something which private industry has already addressed?
Speaking of taxpayer money, the fiscal note for this bill drastically underestimates the cost of maintaining a centralized electronic depository.
To build the system, the Secretary of State’s Office estimates anywhere between $175,000 and $225,000. What the fiscal note does not include is the additional cost of maintaining this website along with security to ensure it is not attacked by bad actors.
This doesn’t account for the expense of IT and equipment, or the expense of marketing the website to Wyoming residents who know they can find public notices in their local newspaper.
Finally, let's talk about accountability.
Under House Bill 298, the Secretary of State’s Office would provide proof of publication to other government entities or individuals, another example of government being its own regulatory check. Newspapers already provide that check, issuing sworn affidavits of publication for each and every public notice published in our pages. By going strictly digital, and trusting the government to regulate itself, potential bad actors could change digital notices. Printed in newspapers, these notices cannot be changed.
As Governor Mark Gordon once said, “That permanent record, one that cannot be altered, is very important.”
If you, like us, believe the government should not serve as a watchdog for the government then contact your representatives and senators in the Wyoming Legislature today. Tell them you want public notices to remain with an independent third-party with professional minimum standards: your local newspaper.