SB 208 – Watch out Newspapers!

Today I was introduced to SB 208 – Creating a Legal Notice Online Depository (my title not the bills). In connection with the Senate Site and Senator Steve Urquhart a press conference was held for bloggers regarding this bill. It was a great experience to call in and watch the press conference from South Ogden; however I think I will make an effort to get down there for future ones. Senator Urquhart did a great job moderating the conversation and helping us understand the questions asked. I think this is a unique method of enlisting bloggers behind the cause of a piece of legislation, especially since it is sure to bring heated debate from the newspaper lobby.

This potential legislation would develop a searchable online database for all legal notices in the State. Currently Newspapers have the monopoly on the publishing of legal notices. It is estimated tax payers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on these legal notices alone. Sen. Urquhart mentioned some people have even been forced in to foreclosure because of inability to pay the legal notice publication fees. SB 208 would create a depository for all legal notices and make it cheaper than posting it in the newspaper, saving city government and the regular tax payer thousands of potential dollars. The bill piggy backs on the already popular public meeting notices website (See Here) and would follow a similar format. Citizens could log on and pay a small fee to upload their legal notice, and then it could be searched by topic, city and date.

"We want to create better notice and a bigger pool of people who know what is
going on," Senator Urquhart.

SB 208 could do just that, make it easier for people to find notices and cheaper for those who need to post them. This is a win/win for the consumer and local government. However, look deeper and you will see turbulence on the horizon from the newspapers of Utah. As newspapers see circulation drop, classified ad space has dwindled and ad revenue is disappearing from competition such as KSL.COM and the internet. You know there will be an all out battle to keep legal notices in the newspaper and away from a central website. This is a form of revenue for newspapers and the apparent need for such revenue is demonstrated in legislation being proposed to remove caps on legal notice publishing fees. A quick Google search brought up a website that helps newspapers publish legal notices and has already posted info against such legislation. (See here: http://www.utahlegalnotices.com/) This poorly designed and out of date website attempts to keep a placeholder on the internet to thwart such discussions of central depositories. I am sure this website will be updated quickly as the esteemed Senators bill is prepared.

On the national front, Arizona and South Dakota are working on similar legislation and have received scathing editorials from the local newspapers demanding such legislation be stopped. Their arguments include: pulling legal notices from papers cuts off the public from information, not enough people have the internet or a computer and therefore miss this important information. (Source: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/) To believe newspapers are the central and only form of communication is ignorant and pathetic. To counter these arguments you simple need to gather some basic statistics from the Newspaper Association of America. On their website, http://www.naa.org/, you can see they don't even classify legal notices as an area read by most people. According to their 2008 readership report only 95 Million adults read the daily paper and 113 Million read the Sunday paper. Computer user statistics, according to Computer Industry in America, shows there are 264 Million PC users and 220 Million internet users, as of Jan. 2009.

The argument we are cutting readers off from Legal Notices just doesn't hold water. More people have computers and use the internet than read the newspaper. Senator Urquhart's bill puts money back into the tax payers pocket and helps push information out to nearly 51 percent more people than a regular newspaper will. The newspaper industry is concerned about the loss of revenue to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Do not be fooled by the future editorials and reports, this is about money for them. This is probably why Senator Urquhart wanted bloggers to get this information to help counter act the newspaper attacks to come. Smart.

Whatever the motives, I enjoyed the blogger brief and I support SB 208

How much? Higher Education looks at a 7.5% budget cut.

In a particularly interesting Higher Education appropriation sub-committee meeting, held last week, a budget cut was proposed for 7.5 percent. The original motion was made by our own Rep. Brent Wallis. Though I feel Co-chairman Valentine pushed him into the motion and that was not his original comment, the motion was made. The motion was later substituted and disappeared into thin air. (Gotta love Robert's Rules of Order) Before a new motion was made a 10 minute recess was called. Unfortunately since I listened to the meeting via podcast, we were not blessed to hear what happened. However there were three great things I would like to point out.

1. Besides his motion to cut education, Mr. Wallis had a great comment about our economic times and the future of Higher Education.
   

He said, "We must go forward as a committee and put forward a very very strong case of how important higher education is going to be. These elements that we are trying to save within these cuts will in fact help us stimulate or start the economic revival we are looking forward to. That is the message we need to really get across. We are losing a lot of talent here; this talent can help us turn around the economy"

I couldn't agree with Rep. Wallis more. But can a 7.5 percent cut accomplish this. Wallis was pushed into that motion and should have backed out and let someone else make it. Because that kind of motion doesn't represent what he said in the meeting about fighting for education.

1. Rep. Senator Urquhart had a great idea of prioritizing schools based on enrollment growth. The schools with the most growth would receive less of a cut versus the schools with the least growth would receive the most cuts. Great idea that should be looked at even closer. Some potential problems would be schools like CEU in Price. That could be the nail in the coffin for them. (I don't see why they are still open anyways). As a matter of full disclosure, the good senator was quick to point out the school in his district, my Alma Mater—Dixie State College, has had the highest growth. The fact still remains that his idea has merit.

2. The Governor's budget, though already out of balance to the tune of nearly $100 million, suggests that moneys be pulled from road projects and other state programs to reduce the cut to 3.5 percent. Many people loved this idea, but since the Governor's budget is already out of sync, it would need further debate as the proposals moved on.
   

You have to give credit to the Utah Student Association for coming out to speak their case and to the Commissioner of Higher Education for his "sales pitch" to reduce the cuts. But in the end it wasn't enough. How did the committee vote? Well they never turned the microphones back on after the recess so we are all deprived of the results. I have been checking newspaper feeds and have an email into Rep. Wallis, but I haven't heard.

The Tribune had a "doom and gloom" article on the topic with regards to Weber State, you can see it here, (Weber State's President Battles Deep Cuts)

As always, comments are welcome.

City Leaders and Blogs

Buried deep into this mornings copy of the Standard Examiner, I found a simple and interesting article about cities and blogging. (See Here)

Apparently Centerville city leaders have paid consultants to help them find ways to improve their website and communication with the public. The suggestion is a blog. Antone Clark reports:

"...The Summit Group, said the city leaders could make a real connection with the public if the are willing to venture into the blogosphere. For now, it appears city officials may let the idea pass."

Mayor Ron Russell didn't think this was such a hot idea. In fact he stated, "That's just what I need, another thing to do."

Now I am not here to criticize Centerville, but rather the fact the city isn't considering a blog and surprised the Summit Group even considered a blog.

I am impressed with City Manager, Scott Darringinton's blog (See Here). But he doesn't have the biggest readership; however his posts are very informational and helpful. I am sure it will pick up in time. But his blog is a perfect example of city officials reaching out to the public.

Though the problem with city officials blogging is a blog can become dormant very quickly. Just look at diggity Mayor Godfrey's blog (See Here). The last time he posted was January 11, 2008. My rule of thumb, if you don't have anything to blog about, don't blog.  Otherwise it will your blog posts become lame.  But to start a blog just to say you have a blog can turn out to bite you in the end. Centerville and their consultants will have to weigh all of these things when and if they decide to blog.

I hope South Ogden continues it's blogging and maybe even we will see it expand to city council members, similar to how Rep. Steve Urquhart (or should I say Senator Urquhart) blogs during the legislative sessions. (See Here)

Centerville, best of luck and I hope you didn't pay too much money.