BILL REQ. #:  S-2014.1 

Read first time 02/21/2007.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to the broadcast of legal notices over the internet; adding a new section to chapter 43.105 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature intends to establish a state-sanctioned web site that shall serve as a more efficient, single repository for the posting on the internet, by any person or entity choosing to do so, of any public notice that is legally required by law or rule of the state or any of its political subdivisions, which posting shall serve as an alternative and/or as a supplement to such other public legal notice. The legislature intends that the state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by furthering the public policy underlying the public notice requirements generally: To make noticed information as widely available to the public as possible. The state-sanctioned web site shall exist to serve the public interest consistent with the aim of providing fairness and equality of access to public information for all persons, including persons with disabilities, persons who are elderly or indigent, and other persons not having reasonable access to the courthouse forum or other traditional notice publication forums. The state-sanctioned web site shall exist to serve the public interest by increasing the efficiency of courthouse personnel and courthouse safety by reducing paperwork and by significantly reducing the foot traffic through the courthouses of the state. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by creating greater security and integrity for notices heretofore posted solely at "the courthouse door." The state-sanctioned web site shall exist to serve the public interest by lowering the cost of publishing by traditional forms of notice. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by providing a ready means of transition from traditional print publications to electronic media as the public and its institutions evolve rapidly to increased use of internet communication. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by making the public information thereon more widely available geographically by providing state-wide, national, and international access to notice postings. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by making the information thereon more publicly accessible in that it shall have no limitation time-wise or date-wise to access and posting. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by establishing its own infrastructure and providing its services, maintenance, and backup to the state free of charge and without the expenditure of taxpayer revenues. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by remitting a portion of its reasonable fees to the state as revenue, thereby decreasing the burden on taxpayers. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by creating a forum in which the information posted thereon shall be incorruptible in form for an indefinite period of time into the future. The state-sanctioned web site shall serve the public interest by providing important services which do not at present exist with regard to public notice: Freely accessible archiving of the notices which may be searched without limitation by the public and the ability to search for information contained within a public notice which is not now possible.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.105 RCW to read as follows:
     There is hereby established a state-recognized web site which shall be known as the legal notice repository. The company selected to operate the web site and disseminate information by and through the state's web site shall maintain the state's interest in the domain and the use of the web site, at no cost to the public to access the web site and the information available there. The company shall maintain and operate the official state web site twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, each day of the year.