House bill to allow public notices online

By MARC KOVAC

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

The Ohio House has passed legislation that would allow online postings of public notices but still require that they appear a couple of times in published newspapers, too.

House Bill 220, sponsored by Kathleen Chandler, a Democrat from Kent, passed on a vote of 96-1 and heads to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

“It provides for greater use of technology, and it will result in big savings to local governments,” Chandler said.

Under current law, some government offices are required to publish notices in newspapers for decisions affecting the public — rezoning applications, tax delinquencies and property foreclosures, for example.

Lawmakers have been considering changes to those laws, in light of new technologies that enable online access to public notices.

A task force, on which Chandler was a member, studied the issue for more than a year and offered a number of recommendations for law changes, many of which are included in HB 220.

The legislation would require the first publications of notices to be made in their entirety in qualifying newspapers.

Subsequent notices could be shorter and direct readers to local government Internet sites for additional details.

The bill also would require newspapers to establish government rates for such notices, at a cost not to exceed the lowest classified or insert rate.

And they would have to post the notices online at no extra charge.

Additionally, the legislation would allow county auditors to charge delinquent taxpayers for the costs of public notices of their properties’ status.