Did you know the Indiana Register, a formerly hard-copy treasure trove of state rules has disappeared online?The IR used to be a go-to source for citizens and journalists who followed how state government rules and policies. Much like lawmaking, the process itself can be tricky—particularly for interested parties in watching public comment periods come and go. The Register is important to watch because rules, once adopted by state policy-making boards, generally have the same clout as laws.

Attorney Marcia Oddi points out why we should care on her Indiana Law Blog:

“Perhaps you are a small town librarian who can no longer make the Indiana rules and statutes readily available to your users. Or maybe you are a judge in a small county that used to have the Acts of Indiana, the Indiana Code, the Indiana Administrative Code, and the Indiana Register in the county courthouse library, but now you find that not only are these volumes not printed anymore, but accessing them online is problematic at best. Maybe you are in charge of compliance in a small (or large) business and can’t keep track of what is happening anymore. Or a citizen wanting to have advance warning of rules that may be under consideration.”

Read more about the problems cropping up on Oddi’s blog.