A bad bill killed by the Arizona State Senate in March has resurfaced, passed and is now headed to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk.
In March, the senators voted 16-14 to kill House Bill 2447, which would deprive the public of their ability to read legal notices in their local newspapers. The bill would force the Arizona Corporation Commission, whose members are under fire from all sides for corruption, some facing court action for their illegal corporate ties to set up, fund and maintain a website to publish public notices.
Currently, legal notices must be published in a newspaper in the county where the company conducts business. The bill would shift legal notices away from newspapers and instead delegate them to an as-yet unbuilt state website. Those notices would only have to be online for 90 days rather than archived in newspaper vaults and public libraries in perpetuity, making it hard for taxpayers to follow the money and see who owns what.
Arizona would be the only Western state that has such a requirement. Connecting the dots via company posting is vital to the health of our republic. In the shadow of the recent publication of the Panama Papers — in which 11.5 million leaked documents connected political leaders, corporate CEOs and celebrities to drug traffickers, gun runners, war criminals, dictators and despots through offshore shell companies around the world — we see what can happen if financial information is permitted to be hidden away in secret.
Without comment on Tuesday, May 3, Arizona Sens. Judy Burges [R-District 22], Adam Driggs [R-District 28] and Bob Worsley [R-District 22] switched their votes from March and voted 16-14 to pass HB 2447.
One of the key sponsors of the bill is Arizona Speaker of the House David Gowan [R-District 14]. Gowan is more than eager for the bill to pass because one of the major casualties would be the Arizona Capitol Times, a central Phoenix newspaper that reports almost exclusively on the Arizona State Legislature and how its legislation affects the rest of the state. It runs on public notice revenue.
Capitol Times reporters recently uncovered that Gowan misused state vehicles and improperly billed the state $12,000 for mileage on campaign trips. The reporting has led to an Arizona Attorney General investigation.
Gowan has also indulged in what half of his Republican caucus criticized in a letter as “excessive spending” regarding expensive redecorating in the House chambers and House offices.
In retribution, Gowan banned reporters from the House floor, where they have sat since statehood, unless they submit to background checks. Reporters refused and under pressure from news outlets and other public officials around the country, Gowan lifted the ban.
Unable to silence reporters exposing his misuse of public monies, he has instead decided to target one revenue stream for newspapers, and waste even more taxpayer money to set up an easily corruptible online state website instead of trust small businesses to publish public notices as they have for decades. The bill could open the door to further legislation eliminating the mandate that cities, towns, counties, school districts and government agencies publish legal notices in local newspapers, meaning taxpayers would have to search each agency’s website to find meeting announcements, budget reports, public statements, the election announcements and bidding requests rather than picking up one local newspaper and finding them all published in a single location.
Call and write Gov. Ducey at the Arizona State Capitol, 1700 West Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007 or by phone (602) 542-4331 and demand he veto HB 2447.
