bill that would have taken legal notices out of the newspaper will not be making its way to the House floor.
Rep. Joe Sosnowski's House Bill 261 would eliminate the requirement for local governments to post public notices in local newspapers. Instead, it would require governments to post notices only on their websites.
The bill failed in committee Thursday by a 5-6 vote.
Sosnowski, a Republican from Rockford, said he wasn't discouraged by the committee's decision.
"This was an initial litmus test at the committee level," he said. "I think, generally, the committee was open to the legislation. We've just got some fine-tuning to do."
The state's nearly 7,000 units of local governments are currently required to print notices of public hearings in the local paper. Other notices are required by law as well, such as from land developers.
Newspapers are legally required to upload these notices to a centralized website, publicnoticeillinois.com.
Sosnowski said he introduced the bill to save taxpayers money, but opponents said the savings were negligible and that government transparency was more important.
Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Round Lake Beach, said he thought it was hypocritical for local governments to say this was a cost-saving measure while fighting other bills requiring similar measures.
"If they want to say that they can't post things on their website because it costs too much money, then the same principle applies here," he said. "So I don't see a cost savings for the local governmental bodies."
Josh Sharp, a lobbyist for the Illinois Press Association who spoke against the bill, said he was glad it failed.
"I was really glad to see that legislators were not ready to turn over informing the public to units of local governments, specifically their websites," he said. "They're tasked right now with posting three different things online, and they don't seem to be doing a very good job at all."
Sharp said the three postings local governments are required to put online include notices of public meetings, agendas and minutes from the meetings. But according to a Citizen Advocacy Center study, the governments only complied with posting notices of the meetings 73 percent of the time, agendas 57 percent of the time and meeting minutes 48 percent of the time.
Sharp said this shows newspapers should stay involved in the process.
"You do not get that same kind of check and balance with someone posting it on a government website and someone taking a look for it," he said. "It's not nearly the same thing."
Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, said she was for the bill because most people get their information on the Internet now anyway.
Bill eliminating local government notices in newspapers fails - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL
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