Robesonian removed from legislation that would ban some advertising

Mar. 28—LUMBERTON — Legislation that would have removed certain advertising from publication in the Robesonian was amended Tuesday by Senator Danny Britt Jr., removing Robeson County from Senate Bill 200

SB 200, "Onslow and Robeson Counties/Public Notices," would have removed the publication of public notices and legal advertising from newspapers in Onslow County and Robeson County.

Public notices and legal advertising are a significant part of a publication's revenue source. By law, certain public notices and legal findings must be published to inform the public about public meetings, proceedings or minutes of meetings, elections, annexations, budgets, property taxes and hearings, delinquent payments, hearings, ordinances, foreclosures and many other vital official matters of government entities; for courts, examples of required public notices include filings of estates, law suits, dissolutions, custody, assumed names, foreclosures, and many others, according to the North Carolina Press Association.

Phil Lucey, executive director of the North Carolina Press Association, credited the many calls to N.C. Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson County, for the amendment removing Robeson County from the bill.

"Calls from news organization publishers to Senator Britt helped him see the light on this local bill," Lucey said.

One concern voiced by proponents of the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Michael A Lazzara, R-Dist. 6 (Onslow County), was the fact that if newspapers required paid online subscriptions, the public may not have access to public notices.

But Lucey called that idea "misinformation." "They see a pay wall and assume that everything on the site is behind it," Lucey said. But according to Lucey that while some newspapers have metered access to their content, public notices and legal advertising were accessible for free in all newspapers in North Carolina.

"We believe that transparency and accountability are key to Robeson County residents," said Denise Ward, regional publisher of the Robesonian, Bladen Journal and The Sampson Independent. "The Robesonian gives the public access via print and through robesonian.com, through the direct link to legals (statewide) as well our e-edition."

If passed, the bill would have authorized the municipalities in Onslow and Robeson counties "to publish required public notices electronically and to authorize [the counties] to publish legal notices via the county-maintained website for a fee," according to language in the bill.

On Tuesday, a North Carolina Senate committee, the Committee On State and Local Government, voted to remove Robeson County publications from proposed legislation.

"We are pleased that Robeson County was removed from the bill," Ward said.

The legislation goes next to the Senate Rules Committee and then the Senate Finance Committee before it is handed off to the House of Representatives, where it could be approved as written or amended more.

Additionally, because the legislation affects just one of the state's 100 counties, it is considered a local bill that does not require the governor's signature. The "local" bill refers to an act of the General Assembly that relates to one or more specific local governments.

On Saturday, a Robesonian editorial stated that authorizing counties to publish public notices on their own websites would actually limit access to county residents.

"Public notices are already available electronically at Robesonian.com, which has a growing number of users in part because of our service to the community with ultra-local news, sports and advertising," The editorial stated. "Last month, Robesonian.com had 196,000 unique visitors and 443,000 page views.

"Combined with the Robesonian's print edition, public notices and legal advertising already reach readers throughout the county," the editorial stated. "This website is free to the public and the "Legals" are available to anyone at all times."