Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-561

Opinion No. 561 State Printing-Call for Bids -Publication. HELD: Under Chapter 66, Laws of 1923, the call for bids for state printing must be published in at, least two "daily newspapers of general circula- tion" in at least two localities. A publication in one daily and in one or more weekly newspapers is not suf- ficient to comply with the statute. .June 26, 11)34. We ha"e your request for an opinion stating that on June 5. 1934, you in- serted in the Billings Ga7-ette, a daily newspaper published at Billings, a call for bids upon state printing. You also state that a similar publication once a week for four consecutive weeks was made in the Montana Labor News. a weekly newspaper published at Butte, )Iontana, and a similar publication was in the Western Progressh'e, a weekly paper of Helena, Montana. You in- quire whether or not such puhlication meets the requirements of Chnpter 6(;. Laws of 1923, goYcrning the duties of the purchasing agent. "'e need not consider any pOl·tion of the law excepting that portion found in Section' 7, which reads: "As soon as the State Purchasing Agent shall determine, as in this sec'- tion pro,ided, what kind of supplies and the amount necessary for thc State of ]\fontana to purchase for its state offices, boards, commissions, de- partments or institutions. he shall thereupon give notice in 'daily news- papers of general ciI'culation in the State of Montana and pUblished in different localities therein,' for at least 20 days that sealed proposals will be received by the State Purchasing Department, up to a time to he men- tioned then'in, for furnishing supplies for such state offices, boards, COlll- miSSions, departments, or institu- tions, which notice shall also state that detailed statements of supplies to be furnished are on file at the of- fice of the State Purchasing Depart- Illent and subject to inspection, amI shall also specify that at a certain time, to he therein mentioned said proposals will be opelled. and con- tracts awarded to the lowest respon- sible bidder." The heavy type aboye is mine, but the quotation marks enclosing the word~ "daily newspapers of general circula- tion in the State of ~Iolltana and pub- lished in different localities therein," appear in the printed copy of the Ses- sion J~aws. .Just what significance OPIXIOXS OF THE A'l'TORNEY GE~ERAL 389 should be attached to the quotation marks, I am unable to say. H seems to me the language of the statute makes it mandatory that the publication must be made in at least two "daily newspapers of general cir- culation" published in different locali- ties. First of all, the statute uses the plural form of the word "newspapers," indicatin~ that publication in just one daily newspaper would not be suffi- cient. This is followed immediately by language which specifiC1l11y requires that the puhlication be made in news- papers published in "different locali- ties." This seems to show unmistak- a bly that the legislature intended the publication to be made in a daily news- paper in at least two different locali- ties. The statute does not state t.he exact number of puhlications and the Jltll"Chasing agent, no doubt, would be justified in publishing in several dif- ferent localities but in any event it seems without question that the pub- lication must be made in daily news- papers in at least two localities. It may be argued that publication in a weekly newspaper is just as ef- fectb'e as puhlica tion in a daily news- paper. J!'rom a practical standpoint this may be correct. Some weekly newspapers may have a greater circula- tion than some daily newspapers. That, however, is a matter which the legis- lature has not seen fit to leave to the discretion of the purchasing agent for it has expressly stated that the pub- lications shall be made in a "daily" newspaper. 'l'he only way in which the statute can be construed so as to eliminate the necessity of publishing in daily newspapers, and substituting in lieu thereof publication in weekly news- papers, is by striking out of the stat- ute the word "daily". This, of course, may not be done except by the legis- lature. It appearing frolll your statement of facts that the notice was published in only one daily newspaper in only (lne locality, it is our opinion that the publication is not sufficient to comply with the requirements of Chapter 66, La ws of 1923. The question has been raised also whether or not there must be a con- tinuous lIuhlica tion of the notice daily for twenty days. Upon this point the following cases throw some light: Scillev v. Red Lodge-Rosebud Irr. Dist. 83 Mont. 282; Garry v. Martin, 70 Mont. 587; La.wson v. Gibson. 24 N. W. 447: Leavitt v. Bell, 75 N. W. 524; State v. Hanson. 115 N. ·W. 294 : Bancroft Drain- age Dist. v. Chicago, etc., 167 N. W. 731: Bryant v. Lang, 247 S. W. 756; 62 C. J. 975. We are of the opinion that it would be unsafe to publish other than daily. According to the a.uthori- ties, a paper published every day ex- cept Sunday, is considered a daily paper.