Improve public’s notice

Published: Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 8:37 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 8:37 p.m.

The state Legislature will have a chance this spring to make things easier on Louisiana’s voters.

Actually, the Legislature will take up a bill that will increase the notification requirements public bodies must satisfy before they can place potential taxes on local ballots.

State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, has proposed the change, which should get a hearing during the upcoming legislative session.

The measure would require political bodies such as school boards to clearly notify the public of possible tax changes before they are discussed.

They would have to advertise the potential tax hike at least 30 days prior to the meeting where it will be discussed. And the public notice cannot be more than 60 days before the meeting.

That is a good requirement that should allow members of the public plenty of time to plan on attending the meeting if they wish without being so far in advance that people forget about it before the meeting occurs.

And the change is needed.

Right now, those political bodies have to advertise their meetings, but the rules allow some leeway on what can be added to agendas before the meetings.

“They can add a tax to an agenda on a Monday without changing the public notice and vote to approve it on a Wednesday. Then it heads to voters,” Allain said. “Then they claim that the people are getting a chance to decide when what they really did was bypass the people.”

While the voters have the ultimate say on the tax when it appears on the ballot, many local residents might want to weigh in on these issues before they are placed on the ballot.

When the school board or some other body is actually discussing the issue is the time when it is most relevant and the time when those local politicians are most likely to answer questions or concerned.

Once it is on the agenda, all people can do is vote yes or no.

This change, if it is approved, would not create an onerous requirement. Instead, it would simply enhance the public’s right to stay informed about what its representatives plan to do.

That is more than fair.

The most basic building block of representative government is an informed electorate. And the best way for people to stay informed about what the government is doing and planning is for those discussions to take place in public after an advance notice.

In the end, the more information the public has about what public bodies are doing, the better off we all are. Requiring these bodies to notify us of their intentions to raise, renew or implement taxes is just a common-sense improvement to existing law.



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