Legislation to change government notices to the public unanimously passed the House County and Municipal Government Committee.

House Bill 3062, authored by Rep. Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater, expands the availability of legal notices by requiring municipalities to post them online in addition to the current requirement to publish in a daily or weekly newspaper.

“This legislation does not alleviate a city’s obligation to publish notices in a newspaper,” Ranson said. “This is a duplication meant to reach more citizens. Having information in both a newspaper and a website provides the most transparency for our citizens.”

The proposed law specifies that online editions qualify for the statutory requirement to publish in daily newspapers.

“The law as it sits today is vague and antiquated,” Ranson said. “The landscape of media, how people receive news is fluid. This change in definitions gives community newspapers flexibility to adjust their printing practices while still giving cities an outlet to meet the obligations of state statute.”