When? Where? What?

These are all basic things we should ask our elected officials.

We get to do that during public meetings and hearings. Without those public proceedings, we would live in the dark at the whims of unaccountable officials.

Now, a bill passed out of committee before the state Senate aims to make life easier for government, but harder for those governed.

Promoted as an attempt to embrace the changing tides of technology, Senate Bill 194 would allow school districts, municipalities and county governmental bodies to publish public notices — such as changes to ordinances, taxes, zoning or special meeting dates — only on their websites.

For decades, public notices have been required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation.

There’s a reason.

A newspaper is open to everyone who might like to see it and serves as a legal notification for those who need it. A newspaper runs those notices regardless of politics and is a neutral space for potentially controversial issues.

It’s one stop for the public looking for meeting notices, companies announcing environmental changes, businesses seeking to bid on construction projects or authorities previewing budget proposals.

The Butler Eagle has more than 150 years of experience reaching out to the public. We consistently publish those vital notices in print and online in front of the paywall.

On the other hand, government website qualities and design vary enormously. Such a law would force officials of any size municipality — and in Butler County alone there are 57 townships and boroughs, one city and the county — to invest more of the public’s money to ensure their websites are updated, maintained and staffed to prepare and check these public notices.

Only online also means rural residents or those without reliable internet would be hampered by the quality of their broadband access.

Again, the change would require the average citizen to go to multiple sources: local, county and school district every day — instead of checking the legal notices as they browse through their community newspaper. Businesses would have to check multiple sites to bid on upcoming projects. Residents take time from their activities to navigate different sites to keep up with important meeting notices that would, for example, impact their children’s education.

The burden would no longer be for the government to inform us before it acts; but to inform yourself though them.

What’s lost? The transparency and accountability achieved when the newspaper of record — a neutral third party — publishes those notices for residents in every county in Pennsylvania.

The state Office of Open Records’ 2023 Agency Website Review found just 73% of government agencies sampled provided the required agency’s open records officer contact information, how to reach the state office or a right-to-know request form.

If citizens have trouble getting their legal right-to-know requests filled in a timely manner, how confident can they be that public notices informing them of proposed zoning ordinances to their neighborhoods will be presented in a timely manner?

The proposal, SB194, is already on the Senate calendar and could be voted on as early as the coming week, prior to the General Assembly’s summer recess.

We oppose this bill and ask you to join us by contacting our state Sens. Scott Hutchinson and Elder Vogel and urging them to vote against.

— DJS, JP