Sometimes, a Republican will come up with a good bill -- HB2554

To whom does the information and data compiled by Arizona government agencies belong?

Because technology had not caught up, here's what the statutes have required for decades (maybe even a century) about one particular type of data.

Within sixty days after the [Arizona Corporation Commission] commission approves the filing, a copy of the articles of amendment shall be published. An affidavit evidencing the publication may be filed with the commission. 

For various types of corporate notices, essentially the same language exists in several sections of Title 10 Corporations and Associations. How this has been playing out, for decades, is that those corporate notices have been published in newspapers. It has been a lucrative enterprise, even though VERY FEW people read those notices, especially in highly parochial publications like the Arizona Capitol Times.

So lucrative that some of those newspapers, struggling for revenue because they have been victims of disruptive technological innovation (the internet) and having not figured out how to adapt, have attacked lawmakers who dared to act like the data belongs to the people, instead of to the newspapers.

Last year, it was HB2533 regarding public notices by local governments, which passed the House and was ultimately held in the Senate and there died. In the House Technology and Infrastructure committee, on Valentine's Day 2013, Cap Times publisher Ginger Lamb testified about HB2533 thus:

Ms. Lamb reiterated the question about the accountability of government to monitor itself and in response to Mr. Stevens’ question about the yearly subscriptions total, she stated it is 5,500.

Besides a very likely overstatement of the Cap Times circulation, that she balked "about the accountability of government to monitor itself" is laughable. Conceptually, one would expect a Free Press to provide a check on government, ensuring accountability. However, Lamb's publication, besides not even being focused at all on local governments, is the LAST source anyone would look to for any kind of accountability journalism.

The legacy of the Arizona Capitol Times is to pander to lobbyists, so much so that it has refused to publish good journalistic stories for fear of jeopardizing its access to the state legislature, its bread and butter.

HB2533 had absolutely nothing to do with holding local governments accountable for anything. The bill would have allowed cities and towns to publish notices on websites instead of in newspapers. That's it. It would have saved significant amounts of taxpayer money. Money that Ginger Lamb and other publishers don't have to work very hard to rake in, at all.

But I digress. This session's HB2554 seeks to make the following change to several sections in Title 10 regarding corporate notices. What was the question again? Who does this data belong to?

Within sixty FIVE BUSINESS days after the commission approves the filing, a copy of the application for withdrawal shall be published.  An affidavit evidencing the publication may be filed with the commission.  THE COMMISSION SHALL INPUT THE INFORMATION REGARDING THE APPROVAL INTO THE DATABASE AS PRESCRIBED BY SECTION 10-130.

Instead of requiring corporate agents (or small business people filing on their own) to publish in a newspaper within 60 days after the Arizona Corporation Commission approves a filing and then filing an affidavit with the ACC that the publication has been completed, NOW within FIVE business days after the corporate filing takes place with the ACC, the ACC will be required to input the information into a database that the public can easily access and search. Nearly TWO months quicker than if we continue to provide corporate welfare to newspapers.

Because the cost to incorporate will be cut dramatically, this has the potential to promote innovation among people with ideas who may not have massive amounts of money up front.

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Don't get too excited about me supporting this bill. Its sole sponsor is our friend John Kavanagh. John is, to my knowledge, no less inclined to open his mouth and begin speaking before engaging his brain. BUT, this idea is NOT a partisan issue.

California's Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom last year published Citizenville: How to take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government. This is but one of many ideas available to make Arizona government more responsive and accountable to the people.

But also don't be surprised when Ginger Lamb starts squawking because her ox is being gored with this bill. By the way, last year, Jonathan (Payday) Paton also testified against the various technology bills that would have brough Arizona government into the 21st Century, technologically speaking.