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F I S C A L   I M P A C T   R E P O R T

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Godbey

 

DATE TYPED:

3/16/03

 

HB

667/aHJC

 

SHORT TITLE:

Electronic Posting of Legal Notices

 

SB

 

 

 

ANALYST:

Maloy

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

 

 

NFI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

Responses Received From

Office of the Attorney General

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis of HJC Amendment  

 

The House Judiciary Committee has amended House Bill 667 to provide that a failure to electronically post does not constitute grounds for challenging or otherwise delaying a proceeding if the proceeding had been properly noticed and advertised pursuant to the non-electronic notice requirements.

 

This amendment affirms the intent of electronic posting as a means of convenience, and not the primary means of providing notice.

  

Synopsis of Original Bill

 

House Bill 667 requires state agencies and political subdivisions to post and index legal notices and advertisements on their websites. 

 

With regard to political subdivisions, the requirement is to be imposed only if the subdivision has a website.

 

Significant Issues

 

1.                  Electronic posting is intended as an additional manner of posting, not a substitute for required publication of legal notices and advertisements.

 

2.                  The bill assumes all state agencies have web sites.  Are there any agencies that do not?

 

3.                  The term “legal notices and advertisements” should be clarified or defined.

 

Unless the term “legal notices and announcements” is intended to cover only notices required and regulated by law, the term should likely be defined in the bill to clarify it is to include all announcements of interest to the public regardless of whether they are required by law.

 

4.                  The electronic posting is not to be in lieu of other currently existing posting requirements, such as in the newspaper or the State’s Records and Archives publications.

 

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

Any fiscal or administrative impact from complying with HB 667 would be minuscule.   

 

SJM/njw:yr