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Legal notice requirements in Virginia’s local publications survive another year

House of Delegates members walk past the south portico at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
Bob Brown
/
Pool AP/Richmond Times-Dispatch
House of Delegates members walk past the south portico at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, April 22, 2020.

A bipartisan pair of Virginia Delegates sought to roll back legal notice publishing requirements for localities this session. But both efforts are dead for the time being.

“Municipalities throughout the commonwealth are spending 10s of thousands of dollars each year advertisements in newspapers,” said Vienna Democratic Delegate Holly Seibold at a committee hearing last Friday, pushing a bill that would have nixed a requirement for local governments to advertise public notices.

Public notices are those ads announcing a public hearing is coming up for a rezoning or tax increase in local publications. The 100-year-old law aims to inform the public, but York County Republican Delegate Chad Green, who had a similar bill before a committee Wednesday morning, said it’s costing taxpayers money.

“We try and save every penny and keep taxes low on our citizens,” Green told the committee.

Tom Lappas is the owner and publisher of the Henrico Citizen. He started publishing twice monthly in print over 20 years ago but went all online during the pandemic. That cut into his advertising revenue. He admits some publications may charge higher fees to localities, but he charges a flat $150 fee per notice. But he says it's money well spent and could make a difference in local news coverage.

“This is about keeping people informed. That’s the main point here. Online publications are doing that," Lappas told Radio IQ. "The financial element for some of us is, it might eventually pay for a full-time reporter and that would be a game changer for us. It would allow us to cover more of what’s happening here.”

Green’s bill died Wednesday morning, much like Seibold’s did last week.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Brad Kutner is Radio IQ's reporter in Richmond.