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Committee hears bill to loosen bond-election notice rules, adds mailing option
Summary
HB 2605 would let local election authorities use one direct mailing in lieu of a second newspaper publication and deem notice requirements satisfied if no election contest is filed within 30 days; the State Auditor and local officials testified the change would prevent costly bond-certification denials.
Vice Chair Peggy McGaugh introduced House Bill 2605 and a House Committee Substitute that, according to her testimony, aims to modernize election-notice statutes for bond elections and prevent certification problems. The substitute would allow local election authorities to provide the two required notices within a six-week window and permit one of those notices to be a direct mailing to voters; it would also include a provision that if no election contest is filed within 30 days of the Secretary of State’s official announcement of bond results, the notice requirements will be deemed satisfied for certification purposes.
McGaugh told the committee the change grew from work with the State Auditor’s office and the Missouri Press Association and was intended to address problems when newspapers consolidated or publication schedules made timely notice difficult. "The strictness of the current law ... has led to situations where school districts, cities, and fire districts have had their voter approved bonds put in limbo," McGaugh said, urging flexibility to reach voters where they are.
Brandon Alexander, chief of staff for the State Auditor, told the committee the auditor’s office had denied four bond deals in the recent cycle because election-notice requirements had not been demonstrably met. "We denied 4 bonds," Alexander said, describing cases where published notices were missing or published in the wrong weeks; he said the proposed 30-day quiet period would allow the auditor to proceed with certification when no challenge was brought while preserving the auditor’s financial review responsibilities.
Local officials and stakeholders supported the substitute. Matt Thompson, representing Boone County Fire Protection District, said a technical notification error nearly prevented a bond that "passed with 83% of the vote" from being certified and that a new election could cost "estimated at over $30,000 in cost and cost delays and cost increases to equipment we plan to purchase." Witnesses from the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities, Missouri Press Association, Missouri Association of School Administrators, Missouri School Boards Association and others said the compromise language balances legal certainty with practical realities in rural counties.
Committee members pressed on logistics and cost. Representative Simmons and Representative Vance Gowing expressed concerns that direct mail would be more costly than electronic notices and that rural mail delivery could mean voters receive notices after an election; McGaugh and witnesses said the mailing option was primarily intended for counties where newspapers were no longer reliably available and that local officials would weigh costs.
The committee concluded the public hearing after hearing only proponents; no opposition witnesses appeared. The bill will remain on the committee calendar for further action.
