The Indiana Publisher

Page 8 January 2022 hope that constituents might miss it," Key said. The whole system creates a burden on Hoosiers to chase down important information that can impact their community as opposed to the reassurance that government units must place notic- es in the local newspaper where citizens expect to find news that concerns them. S.B. 283 was scheduled to be heard in the Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Sen. Buck on Thursday morn- ing. HSPA will oppose the bill. Sen. Buck is expanding his efforts to move public notices from print to digital from his bill last year that allows government units to move the 2nd or 3rd publication of multi-run notices from newspa- pers to their designated websites, which also could be a Facebook page. On the other end of the spec- trum, Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, introduced H.B. 1101, which fulfills HSPA's pledge to legislative leadership that it would introduce a bill modernizing the state's public notice policy. The bill both addresses concerns that have been raised over the past few years concerning the cost of certain public notices, how public notices should be distributed in counties with no newspaper, and sets the framework for a transition from print to digital requirements for the distribution of public notices. HSPA's proposal would main- tain the four essential elements for effective public notices: acces- sibility by the public, verification of distribution, preservation of the notices for historical purposes, and distribution through an independent entity with incentive to make sure the notices are properly brought before the public. "Our proposal maintains provi- sions that strengthen government transparency and judicial due process in our democratic process" Key said. Unfortunately, H.B. 1101 was assigned to the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, who thus far has indicated a preference for Sen. Buck's S.B. 283 than Rep. Clere's bill. No hearing on H.B. 1101 has been set yet. Co-authors for H.B. 1101 include Reps. Mike Karickhoff, R-Kokomo; Karen Engleman, R-Georgetown; and Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis. The following questions were submitted by a Westfield resident, the Tribune-Star (Terre Haute), and the Indianapolis Business Journal: Listening to Westfield council last night, one council member pro- posed forming a three-member committee of the council to review a controversial zoning issue. I think this was to avoid open meetings law. What is your opinion ? A committee cre- ated by the Council is also subject to the Open Door Law, whether it has only three council members or if it had no council members on it. If the motivation of the council member was to avoid a public discussion of the issue, it would be a failed effort. The Vigo County School Corporation cre- ated an advisory commit- tee for the Vigo County School Corp./board that recommended an elementary school closure. The state's Public Access Counselor issued an informal opinion that the group was subject to the Open Door Law. If a group is appointed by a superintendent, it is not subject to Open Door, right? I'm not saying that happened here, but I believe that's what I've written in past stories. The PAC opinion would be based on IC 5-14-1.5-2(b), which defines "governing body." The school board's attorney appears to be relying upon the fact that only committees appointed by the governing body are subject to the Open Door Law [See (b) (3)]. The PAC though is taking into account (b)(1) which includes committees taking official action on public business. If the advisory committee was created by the school board and reported its rec- ommendation to the school board, then I think it would fall under the scope of the Open Door Law, regardless of whether the school board delegated the appointment power of the committee to the school superintendent. The answer in these questions is going to be fact specific. It would be a loophole if a govern- ing body could have its commit- tees avoid public scrutiny merely be asking the superintendent to appoint the members. I have a question about the statutory rate table for public notice advertising. Are we required to use the rate table only when the notice is published for an Indiana government entity? We received a notice for publication from a county in Illinois. I want to clarify that we are not obligated to use the statutory rate table for an out- of-state government entity. Good question. The law limits what Indiana newspapers can charge state and local government units. It doesn't apply to federal units of government or other states' government units. The language in IC 5-3-1-1 isn't specific on that point, but I would argue that the Indiana legislature would not have the authority to regulate the pricing between an Indiana newspa- per and customer that isn't an Indiana government unit. You can charge the Illinois county what you'd charge an Indiana citizen to place a public notice. Send your questions to Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, skey@hspa.com or call (317) 624-4427. Q Advisory committee created by school board falls under Open Door Law HSPA Legal Hotline Q Regardless of numbers, city council committees are subject to Open Door Law A Public Notice Continued from Page 1 A Public notice rates do not apply to out-of-state government units Q A "This would create a crazy patchwork quilt for Hoosiers trying to determine what local government may be doing or contemplating." — Steve Key, HSPA executive director, general counsel

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