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Committee approves Senate Bill 2 as amended to permit county election office website notices for USD 200 bond election
Summary
A Senate committee voted to recommend favorably Senate Bill 2 as amended; the bill approves results of a Greeley County School District (USD 200) bond election authorizing up to $4,600,000 in general obligation bonds and the committee adopted an amendment requiring county election offices that have a website to publish the election notice on that site.
A Senate committee voted to recommend favorably Senate Bill 2, as amended, a bill that approves the results of a local school bond election and adds a requirement that county election offices with websites publish the required election notice on those sites.
Committee staff member Charles told the committee that Senate Bill 2 “approves the results of an election by the voters of the Greeley County School District that's USD 200” and that the election authorized the school board to issue general obligation bonds “in an amount not to exceed 4,600,000.0.”
The committee considered and adopted an amendment—described in the hearing as following the approach suggested by the Attorney General and the Secretary of State—that directs publication of the statutory election notice on the website of the county election office if that office “has a website.” Charles explained the amendment does not remove or change any newspaper-publication requirements; it adds website posting as an additional means of publication and specifies that a notice published on the county election office website “shall remain on the website until the day after the election.” Charles also said the amendment follows the format of House Bill 2191 (HB 2191), which separately would permit cities and counties to designate a website or a newspaper as the official publication.
Committee members raised questions about the meaning and scope of “website.” One senator asked whether a county clerk could decline to post a notice if the clerk disagreed with the election; Charles responded that if the county election office has a website, the office would have a duty to post the notice, and “there's no duty if there's no website.” Another senator said the amendment does not define “website” and suggested courts would rely on the common dictionary meaning of the term for interpretation. Several members expressed concern that a small or informal web presence (for example, a limited page listing pool hours) might be interpreted as a county website and urged further definition if the bill proceeds.
Senator Blue said he supported the amendment while acknowledging the definitional concerns: “I support this this amendment, I want to get this going through... I have to agree with Senator Claeys on his concern about what is a website... I look forward to working with the Secretary of State's office.”
The amendment sponsor moved the amendment; Senator Blue seconded. The committee approved the amendment by voice vote. The sponsor then moved that Senate Bill 2, as amended, be recommended favorably for passage; Senator Blue seconded that motion as well and the committee approved the bill as amended by voice vote.
Charles noted the amendment will require technical corrections to the bill title and the repealing section to conform to the amendment. The chair said the bill, as amended, will be sent on and will also appear before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, where members expect to continue addressing the website definition question.
The transcript does not record a roll-call tally for the amendment or the final motion; both actions were taken by voice vote.
