Online local news outlets like Hello, West Chester will be represented in testimony on Monday, Sept. 29, at a Pennsylvania House hearing called by the Local Government committee regarding HB 1291, a bill that purportedly modernizes public notices when it actually would hurt taxpayers.

The hearing begins at 10 a.m. Monday in Room 205 of the Ryan Office Building in Harrisburg. It will be live-streamed by the Democratic and Republican caucuses. 

Representing online local news publishers in Pennsylvania will be Tom Sofield, publisher of Levittown Now, Newtown Now, and New Hope Free Press. 

As Hello, West Chester has previously shared, HB 1291 would extend the newspaper monopoly over public notices into the digital age by creating a new category of “digital newspaper” that only applies to publications that currently or formerly had a printed edition. This grandfather clause would serve only to entrench the monopoly held today by these outlets, and prevent price competition by free newspapers and online-only newspapers for this vital public service.

Other issues with the bill have previously been reported by Hello, West Chester. As I reported earlier this summer, Public Notice advertising costs West Chester municipalities thousands of dollars to reach a small fraction of their constituents.

You find our earlier columns on the topic here and here.

Read More:

• Public notice law needs modernization, but newspaper bill would hurt taxpayers
• Yes, Virginia, there is a better way to modernize public notices