Legal notices revamp goes to house floor

Florida Capitol building with capital complex tower behind in Tallahassee [Stock image]

A seemingly annual debate about proposed changes that could reduce newspaper revenues is moving to the House floor. The House State Affairs Committee on Monday voted 14-7 to back a measure (HB 7049) that would change laws about publishing local-government legal notices.

The bill, in part, would allow local governments to publish legal notices on publicly available websites if it would be cheaper than publishing them in newspapers.

“We’re just continuing to move the ball down the field to allow local governments to exercise their home rule authority, which I know many of you care about, in order to decide whether they should put these public notices online or continue to subsidize newspapers,” bill sponsor Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, said.

Florida Press Association President Jim Fogler said the proposal would reverse many changes approved in a legislative compromise that was reached last year and took effect Jan. 1.

“We feel we made great strides implementing this bill and 16 new publications are able to receive public notices today,” Fogler said. “And the bill is working. However, seven weeks later, now we are back to square one with this new bill.”

Under the proposal, special districts that span more than one county would have to post notices on websites that are publicly accessible to the residents in the districts’ regions. The bill was amended Monday to allow counties with populations under 160,000 to hold public hearings to determine if notices could be posted online. That stems, at least in part, from concerns about internet access in many rural areas.

The Senate does not have a version of the bill.