Act 1075 protects newspaper public notices

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law last week one of the newspaper industry's most critical items of legislation to emerge from the 2019 General Assembly, a bill ensuring newspapers remain the principal source for public notices.

Act 1075 establishes that Arkansas's cities, counties and public school districts must use newspaper public notices when soliciting competitive bids for construction projects. The Act, which originated as Senate Bill 409 by Sen. Scott Flippo, R-Mountain Home, as initially drafted would have made newspaper publication an option for such notices along with websites and construction trade journals.

The compromise final bill eliminates the choice of the three, thus requiring cities, counties and schools to publish bid notices for at least two consecutive weeks in newspapers. If the entities would like to also post the notices on websites or in construction trade journals, they may do so.

Read more from Arkansas Publisher Weekly