Essential Estrogen

Newspapers throughout the state (and probably the nation) are applauding the death of a measure in the Iowa Senate which would have allowed government "28Es" to post public notices electronically instead of in the traditional print format. While there is another, similar proposal in the House, it has been chewed down to the bone with no meat left to threaten the rags.

For Iowans, this is a good thing, although they might not see it that way at first. On one hand, governments could save thousands upon thousands of dollars by posting public notices on their web sites instead of paying the local newspapers to print them. On the other hand, however, the steady revenue streams from public notices are sometimes the only things keeping smaller papers afloat. As so many of our communities begin to either lose their local newspaper or see it swallowed by a large communications company, few will disagree with the importance of keeping many voices within the Iowa press or with keeping a local voice within each of our communities.

While the proposals in the Iowa Legislature this year were very limiting in scope, allowing only for "28E" entities to escape the newsprint requirement of public notices, the newspaper industry would see any move to chip away such steadfast revenue as a major threat.

While not relevant since it seems both measures in the Legislature are doomed, here's a very elementary definition of 28Es:

Such entities are formed when state and local governments cooperate to provide joint services and/or facilities (i.e., regional ambulance services, cooperative fire protection agreements). The name stems from the chapter within the Iowa Code which defines and limits them.

While this issue may have died for this particular session, it's bound to return. Local governments believe a better use of taxpayer funds would be on emergency services and infrastructure. Technology is becoming more and more the norm in Iowa households (although access speeds are still a major issue in the rural areas). In the majority of communities, Internet subscribers far outnumber newspaper subscribers. When push comes to shove (and it will), Iowans will need to decide if their local newspapers should stay in business, even if that means they are mainly subsidized by taxpayer funds via public notices.