Wednesday, I put on my publisher's hat and spoke before the Ways and Means Committee about a pair of bills pending in the Assembly that would allow online publication of public notices.
Currently, state law requires notices be published only in printed newspapers.
The bills, 6058 by Assemblyman Steve Hawley, and 9075 by Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, would expand publishing options to online news sources that don't run printing presses.
We didn't report on this matter because I couldn't report on something I was participating in and we had no reporter available to cover it.
Long explanation for: here's the unofficial (meaning, not yet approved) wording prepared by the recording secretary that day, Sarah Kingdon, to serve as a report on the meeting.
Batavian Publisher Howard Owens was present to seek support for Assembly Bill 6058 and Assembly Bill 8075 which would give public agencies the option to place legal notices with either print publications or online news publications. This act would amend the general construction law, in relation to allowing for online publication of public notices. Mr. Owens feels that public notices should be easily accessible by a broad range of members of the public, and online is now a more common source for news than newspapers. He also feels this will offer greater options for archiving and searching of data. Legislator Cianfrini asked if this would be more cost effective. Mr. Owens responded that there is potentially a cost savings, and that he feels an RFP process should be done so that the County can get the best price from local news media. After a discussion of the committee it was decided that Chair Hancock will compose a general letter of support which she will distribute to the Committee for their approval prior to sending to State Officials for support. This was approved upon motion of Legislator Cianfrini seconded by Legislator Leadley.
