By law, government agencies at all levels must publish legal notices of certain regulatory, legal, and legislative actions. Some of those notices go to general-circulation newspapers, while others are published in specialized, legal newspapers.

The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions offers up an idea for saving some money: Given the widespread use of the Internet, why not change public disclosure requirements so that an online publication is sufficient?

David Adams says "At a time of such budgetary turmoil, subsidizing newspapers with tax dollars may not be our highest priority."

(Full disclosure notice: I am a columnist for a paper that derives much of its income from legal notices). I'm not sure I would call a send-it-to-the-papers requirement a subsidy, or at least one without a purpose. Public notification is a key element of good government, and for a long time, newspapers were the dominant form of communicating to the public at large. And despite the ubiquity of the Internet, they still are. But should governments do a better job of publishing public notices? Certainly.

The time for moving to an electronic-only format will be here soon enough. Is "soon enough" today?