Newspapers central to public notice.(News)(Public notice)

Earlier this week, we sought to persuade you, dear readers, of the importance of demanding open government and freedom of information by all of our various government officials.

Today, we'd like to alert you to yet another attempt to restrict your ability to access information you need about your governments.

House Bill 1869 is gaining momentum and sponsors in Springfield. The legislation attempts to end a law that requires local governments to publish public notices in newspapers. Instead, it would allow local governments to publish important notices on government websites and not in any sort of community-distributed print format. Government officials would only have to buy a line or so of type that gives the website address where a public notice is listed.

Yes, we acknowledge here and now that we are an interested party in this matter. This newspaper, like all others, gets revenue from the law that requires local governments to print public notices in newspapers, albeit at a significantly discounted ad rate.

Nonetheless, we also wholeheartedly believe this plan will hurt democracy, hinder the spread of critical information and lead to a less enlightened and less active citizenry.

As it is now, keeping abreast of news, events and turmoil in all our local governments is a challenge. Do legislators really expect citizens to scroll the township government website and the municipal government website and the fire protection district website and the library website and the community college website and the high school district website and the elementary district website and the parks website every week to make sure there isn't a big hearing about a proposed tax increase or a major zoning change?

What about all of those elderly or poor who never had or who can no longer afford to own a computer with Internet access? Oh yes, they're going to drive or walk to their local libraries every week to hop on a public computer to check all the websites above for the important notices about what their local governments are up to. Really?

The local newspaper, print and digital, remains a great repository for public notices, obituaries and all manner of critical community information. Certainly, many more members of the public could be expected to find what they need in one place in their local newspapers.

This legislation is misguided. We're disappointed to see several suburban legislators have signed on as co-sponsors. They are state Reps. Michael W. Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican; Timothy Schmitz, a Batavia Republican; Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat; Randy Ramey, a Carol Stream Republican; and Michael Connelly, a Lisle Republican.

We urge you, dear readers, to join us in asking them to withdraw this plan that dilutes critical access to our democracies.