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Wyo. lawmakers looking at necessity of publishing legal notices in newspapers

Lawmakers in Wyoming are looking at whether local governments should still be required to publish legal notices in newspapers or whether they can be published online instead.

[The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports](http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2013/03/19/news/19local_03-19-13.txt) that an interim committee will look into the matter as a way for governments to save money.

Wyoming press representatives say that publishing legal notices solely online will reduce the public’s access to information and provide a less firm historical record.

“These notices aren’t just in there for giggles,” said Jim Angell, executive director of the Wyoming Press Association. “They are requirements to help keep people informed about what is being done with their money and resources.

Legislators noted that smaller counties in Wyoming can spend as much as $25,000 a year on legal advertising while larger counties spend up to $90,000.

Montana law, for those of us north of the border, has its own mandates for public notices printed in newspapers: [Here](http://data.opi.mt.gov/Bills/mca/18/7/18-7-201.htm) and [here](http://data.opi.mt.gov/Bills/mca/7/1/7-1-2121.htm).

(There are also interesting guidelines on pricing and even on font sizes in the other sections of [Title 18, Chapter 7, Part 2.](http://data.opi.mt.gov/Bills/mca_toc/18_7_2.htm))

Wyoming’s investigation is part of a larger trend. Governments across the country are cutting costs and legislators are targeting legal ads as an easy cut to make. Poynter’s Rick Edmonds sums up the state of the nation (circa 2012) [here](http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/161539/new-threat-to-classifieds-as-newspapers-legal-notice-franchise-comes-under-fresh-pressure-from-cash-strapped-states/).

The only related bill I could find in the current Montana Legislature is Bridget Smith’s [House Bill 258](http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billhtml/HB0258.htm). The bill seeks to revise the laws to account for the failure of a newspaper to publish the notice a second time (a legal requirement).

Basically, Smith says that if a newspaper fails to publish the legal notice a second time that the government should still be considered to have met the notification requirements.

Smith’s bill passed the House on Feb. 6 by a vote of 86-11 and was referred to the Senate Local Government Committee on March 11. [No action has been taken yet](http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/LAW0203W$BSRV.ActionQuery?P_SESS=20131&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=&P_BILL_NO=&P_BILL_DFT_NO=LC1523&P_CHPT_NO=&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SBJT_SBJ_CD=&P_ENTY_ID_SEQ=).