Four attempts in the Missouri Legislature would let bankers or state government "post" public notices to online sites that the vast majority of Missourians never would see.
In effect, that would hide public notices from the public.
A brief background: Public notices, also called legal notices, traditionally have been published in newspapers.
The idea always has been to provide transparency in government, and the practice long has been required under state law. The notices inform Missourians about advertisements for bid, unclaimed property, school/government finances, court proceedings, foreclosures and assessments, among other things.
Four bills in the Legislature (Senate Bills 580 and 877, and House Bills 1651 and 2325) would require only that the notices be posted on either government websites or attorneys' websites.
But here's the problem: Most people would never see those websites. They won't even know to go to the websites. Some people don't even have computers and/or internet access.
That would cause a lack of transparency that has the potential to lead to fraud.
If a foreclosed property is being sold on the courthouse steps, for instance, only the select people who can find the public notice for the sale will be able to bid. The few bidders who do know about the sale then would have an advantage - perhaps an opportunity to buy properties for far less than their value.
In the case of unclaimed property, government keeps whatever it can't return. So there would be no incentive to display prominently a public notice listing the names of the property owners. Burying the notices on a web page that nobody knows about or is hard to find would be all to easy.
Newspapers, on the other hand, act as a third-party verification system. They report the notices - through both print and online editions - with no other agenda than to inform the public. They also have the important ability to archive the notices.
Proponents of some of the bills claim a cost savings, but any "savings" from bypassing newspapers would be spent on establishing and maintaining other websites.
Despite a decline in newspaper circulations in some markets, newspapers remain the best avenue to inform the public about public notices. Newspapers still are read by the majority of the public, and they expect to find public notices in their paper.
We urge lawmakers not to force Missourians to play "hide and seek" with notices that can affect their lives and property.