A measure to permit state and county businesses to cease publishing sure official notices in Hawaii’s every day newspapers was authorized by a key Senate committee Thursday regardless of objections from the writer of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and different critics.
Senate Invoice 2111 would enable Hawaii authorities businesses to publish some public notices on the businesses’ websites as an alternative of within the newspapers, which Senate Judiciary Chairman Karl Rhoads mentioned “would save the state some huge cash.”
The invoice was a part of a bundle of measures launched by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration, and is backed by a half-dozen county and state businesses together with the Hawaii Tourism Authority and the state Departments of Land and Pure Sources, Transportation and Well being.
The departments say they’ll save a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} per yr if they’re allowed to purchase fewer newspaper adverts, however transferring the adverts to authorities websites would deal yet one more monetary blow to Hawaii’s newspapers, mentioned Star-Advertiser President and Writer Dennis Francis.
The Star-Advertiser is printed by Oahu Publications Inc., and resorted to layoffs in recent times as different varieties of promoting income declined and the pandemic shut down a lot of Hawaii’s economic system. The corporate additionally imposed worker furloughs in 2020.
Oahu Publications additionally publishes the every day Hawaii Tribune-Herald and West Hawaii As we speak on the Huge Island and The Backyard Island on Kauai, and Francis mentioned the neighbor island papers rely much more on promoting than the Star-Advertiser.
The lack of authorities promoting “definitely wouldn’t assist,” he mentioned.
However the state Division of Land and Pure Sources mentioned in written testimony that the invoice will make the general public notification course of “easier, timelier and more practical.”
The well being division acknowledged in its testimony that many residents and communities nonetheless depend on printed newspapers, however mentioned public notices “of substance or nice public curiosity” similar to hearings for brand spanking new state guidelines, public conferences or contested case hearings are ruled by different particular legal guidelines.
For these points, state regulation would nonetheless require newspaper and web posting even when the invoice passes, in response to the well being division. However the proposed new regulation would enable the division to chop prices by phasing out promoting that offers with extra technical, obscure materials.
“Examples of annual value financial savings this measure will present embody $100,000 for Nationwide Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, $100,000 for waste water variance postings, $5,000 for underground injection management permits, and $30,000 for clear air permits,” in response to the well being division.
Sandy Ma, govt director of Widespread Trigger Hawaii, raised issues that permitting authorities businesses to publish public notices on official web sites as an alternative of in a newspaper would “enhance the divide in authorities companies and accessibility between these with broadband entry and people with out.”
She instructed that solely “routine and non-critical public notices” be posted on official web sites as an alternative of in a newspaper, and mentioned businesses that plan to shift notices to web sites be required to routinely publish bulletins of that plan in bodily publications for a minimum of a yr earlier than they really place notices completely on-line.
Francis identified that the Star-Advertiser web site already publishes authorities authorized adverts on-line, and mentioned the 4 Hawaii newspapers have 28 million pageviews monthly.
“Suggesting that there can be some obscure authorities web page that may have extra eyeballs than our print product of newspapers and what we’ve on our digital web page” is improper, Francis mentioned. “If our circulation was a thousand, that may most likely be considerably greater than a authorities web page for a authorized advert is ever going to get.”
SB 2111 was authorized within the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, and now goes to the total Senate for additional consideration.
