LEGISLATIVE SERVICES AGENCY
OFFICE OF FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
200 W. Washington St., Suite 301
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 233-0696
iga.in.gov
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
LS 6912 NOTE PREPARED: Jan 3, 2022
BILL NUMBER: SB 283 BILL AMENDED:
SUBJECT: Electronic Publication of Notices.
FIRST AUTHOR: Sen. Buck BILL STATUS: As Introduced
FIRST SPONSOR:
FUNDS AFFECTED: GENERAL IMPACT: State & Local
XDEDICATED
FEDERAL
Summary of Legislation: The bill allows a political subdivision or local public official to publish notices
on the political subdivision's official web site instead of in a newspaper. It allows the Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) to publish a notice regarding a bond release for a surface coal mining and reclamation
operation on the official web site of a county where the operation is located instead of in the newspaper. It
resolves conflicts between two versions of a statute passed in P.L.22-2021 and P.L.152-2021 by repealing
both versions of the statute and adding new statutes. It makes various stylistic changes.
Effective Date: July 1, 2022.
Explanation of State Expenditures: The bill allows the director of the DNR to publish a notice regarding
a bond release for a surface coal mining and reclamation operation on the official web site of a county where
the operation is located instead of in the newspaper, which could reduce expenditures. (See Explanation of
Local Expenditures.)
Explanation of State Revenues:
Explanation of Local Expenditures: The bill extends the option of publishing notices on an official web
site to entities which previously did not have that option. It also allows political subdivisions to publish all
legal notices (not just subsequent publications) on an official web site. These provisions could reduce the
number of legal advertisements published in the newspaper. If the political subdivision has the capacity to
maintain the legal advertisements without additional staff or website updates, overall expenditures for legal
notice advertising could be reduced. The bill requires that one day prior to the publication of any notice on
the web site, a political subdivision must publish information in the newspaper(s), including their web
SB 283 1 address for their home page, a statement that the political subdivision publishes notices on their web site, and
a statement that a link displayed on their home page provides access to their notices.
Additional Information - A political subdivision includes all local units and bodies created or established
under law. Generally, there are three types of legal advertising required by state statute for political
subdivisions:
(1) Annual, such as annual financial reports.
(2) Specific, such as a court notice or notices of foreclosed property sales.
(3) Event-based, such as public meetings in a merger of governments.
A 2013 Legislative Services Agency study of budget advertisements (subsequently repealed) found the
average cost for a taxing unit to publish its budget was $167. Using the maximum statutorily allowed increase
in advertising of 2.75% per year, the estimated cost of similar advertising would be $213.18 in 2021.
Comparison of advertising cost between the budget and other currently required publications is unknown.
Current law allows an additional charge for the publication of tables.
Explanation of Local Revenues:
State Agencies Affected: Department of Natural Resources.
Local Agencies Affected: Political subdivisions.
Information Sources:
Fiscal Analyst: Heather Puletz, 317-234-9484.
SB 283 2