Public Notice Study Group Sets Work Schedule

For Law Changes, New Ad Rates Discussion

Five newspaper representatives and 8 public agency representatives met on June 29 as the joint committee to review Idaho Public Notice laws. They are acting on a 1999 agreement between the two groups, made when the legislature approved a 1999 bill that raised the advertising rate that newspapers may charge for publishing public notice advertising.

The group discussed the purpose of their meetings and then voiced individual concerns about the current laws, in roundtable exchanges. Then they agreed to assign the following work objectives before the next meeting, July 28, in Boise:

  • 1. Public Agency representatives will comb all current publication of notice laws to locate, for July 28 discussion, all law provisions they consider to be archaic and in need of revision or deletion.
  • 2. The same representatives will look through all laws to identify, for the committee, provisions that need modification, to make required advertisements more readable and understandable, for citizens who read those ads. They said they would welcome suggestions from the newspaper industry.
  • 3. Both groups will jointly prepare specific recommendations on a better system of electronic communications to allow all public agencies to transmit their advertising material directly to newspapers' computers for more efficiency in preparing ads for newspaper publication and newspaper website publication.
  • 4. Newspaper representatives will prepare an analysis of the current public notice advertising rates structure laws in Idaho and other states, for committee review and consensus.

    • The committee agreed to submit their decisions on those four issues to the Office of Legislative Counsel by September 1, in time for that agency to prepare drafts of Proposed Statutes for legislative action during the 1995 legislative session. They agreed that additional meetings will need to be scheduled in August, to meet the September 1 work deadline. Electronic data files containing all current Idaho notice publication laws were e-mailed to public agencies by the Idaho Association of Counties and to newspapers by Idaho Newspaper Association.

    Attending the meeting were: Roy Eiguren, Idaho Allied Dailes; Bob C. Hall, Idaho Newspaper Assn.; Pam Morris, Express Publishing (Ketcum); Rocky Cook, Idaho Business Review (Boise); Rosa Carnot, The Idaho Statesman; Dave Navarro, Ada County; Chris Rich, Ada County, Maggie Colwell, Idaho Association of Counties; Leon Duce, Association of Idaho Cities; Justin Ruen, Association of Idaho Cities; Will Berg, City of Meridian, Ben Ysursa, Secretary of State and Tim Hurst, Office of the Secretary of State.