House State Affairs advances bill to move legal notices to state website over publishers' objections

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted 8-7 to send House Bill 166 to the House floor with a “do pass” recommendation after a lengthy public hearing in which newspaper publishers, county officials and the bill sponsor clashed over access, cost and archival permanence.

Sponsor Representative Jeff Ehlers, R-Meridian, told the committee the bill uses a staggered rollout: state agencies would publish notices on the proposed state site first for two years to work out issues, then local governments and other entities could follow. Ehlers said the change would produce “state savings” and estimated that Transparent Idaho currently yields about $1 million in annual savings, while building the new site would cost roughly $500,000 with ongoing annual maintenance near $300,000.

Supporters say moving notices online will save money and meet citizens where they increasingly get information. Opponents — including local publishers, the Newspaper Association of Idaho and county officials — said that shifting notices from print to a state-run site would reduce public visibility, move costs for privately requested notices onto taxpayers and risk losing a permanent public archive.

“Moving legal notices to the government's website would make government processes nearly invisible to Idahoans,” Jim Phillips, who identified himself as representing the Mountain Express, told the committee. Pam Morris, publisher of the Idaho Mountain Express, said independent newspapers “reach more readers than a government website can reach” and cited traffic comparisons showing far higher readership for local newspaper sites than for the Idaho State Comptroller’s site. Clinton Schroeder of the Newspaper Association of Idaho said idahopublicnotices.com is already a “robust cost effective platform for legal notices, and it's fully funded by the newspapers.”

Testimony and data presented to the committee included county-level budget and readership figures. Witnesses said Ada County spends about $72,000 a year on legal publication within a $374 million budget and characterized the per-resident print-notice cost as only pennies. Some publishers and the Idaho Association of Counties also said idahopublicnotices.com and other free services already provide searchable, no-cost alerts and that private-party notices such as foreclosures and probate — which made up a substantial portion of notice revenue in several papers — would be shifted to taxpayers if publication moved to a government-run platform.

Committee members were split. Representative Robert Scott moved that the committee send House Bill 166 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation; a roll-call vote produced eight yes votes and seven no votes. Members opposing the bill cited concerns about the durability and impartiality of government-controlled systems and the effect on residents without reliable internet access, particularly in rural areas. Members supporting the bill pointed to broadband expansion funding in recent years and argued that online publication better reflects how most Idahoans get information.

Votes at a glance Motion: Send House Bill 166 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation. Mover: Representative Robert Scott. Outcome: Passed, 8–7 (roll-call listed below) Roll-call (as recorded in committee): Yes — Crane; Scott; Palmer; Holtzclaw; Skog; Holstetler; Pohanka; [one other reported in committee count]. No — Barbieri; Alfieri; Boyle; Deigert; Mickelson; Achilles; Shubin.

What happens next House Bill 166 will go to the House floor for further committee referral and debate. The committee hearing record includes offers from counties and publishers to provide more cost information, and some members asked the sponsor to return fiscal details when the bill reaches subsequent committee consideration.

Sources: House State Affairs Committee hearing transcript; testimony from Representative Jeff Ehlers, Pam Morris, Jim Phillips, Matt Tranquil, Clinton Schroeder and Sarah Westbrook.