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House approves amended notice requirements for local bond hearings after debate
Summary
The House passed a substitute amended version of HB5 requiring at least two weeks' advertising before hearings on municipal indebtedness and allowing subsequent adoption of resolutions without re-noticing; the measure passed 57–12.
The House approved a substitute, second substitute version of House Bill 5 that added notice requirements for municipal and other governmental entities when they plan to incur indebtedness. Representative Jordan Tanner moved amendments on the pink sheet that, among other changes, struck the word "state" to avoid impractical compliance by the state and required at least two weeks of published notice ahead of meetings at which resolutions to incur indebtedness would be considered.
Tanner said the amendments reflect bond-counsel recommendations and ensure citizens have greater notice of local bonding decisions. He also described a provision that allows a resolution considered at a public hearing to be adopted or rejected at a later meeting without repeating the published notice for the second meeting, on the theory that attendees of the first meeting would have been informed.
Opponents urged caution, saying the new requirements would impose additional costs on municipalities and were unnecessary because existing public scrutiny already operates. A critic warned that the bill "puts government in" by imposing costs on municipalities without clear evidence of harm. Tanner replied that the bill responded to constituent concerns, citing examples of citizens surprised to learn about local bonding because notices had been limited to small legal-page advertisements.
After debate and the amendment vote, the House recorded 57 yes votes and 12 no votes and forwarded the amended bill to the Senate.
