HB-89 could eliminate high-priced legal ads

Historic City News will be closely following a measure filed late last week in the Florida House of Representatives where an antiquated state law is being challenged that has been used for years to pad the wallets of print newspapers with some of their highest-priced advertising — legal notices.

HB-89, introduced by Florida Representative Ritch Workman of Melbourne, will allow local government offices to save taxpayer money by posting required legal notices on the Internet.

Although similar legislation failed to pass last year, cities and counties are continuing to push for the measure. Local governments have said that it doesn’t make sense in the Internet age that they are compelled to pay for newspaper ad space in printed newspapers in order to make announcements about things like tax rates or government auctions, when they could put the notices online.

Historic City News Editor Michael Gold has been supporting this cost-saving measure for several years, calling the current law “one of the sacred cows” of the fourth estate. “Many print newspapers that have not adapted well to multimedia and have gotten away from their mission to report local news will likely cease publication when laws like HB-89 are passed,” Gold said.

Lobbyists for print news organizations will certainly be the loudest objectors to any such changes — in a communication sent to members of the Florida Press Association, General Counsel Sam Morley wrote, “Not only would the new bill allow local governments to use their little used and little known websites to provide notice of their own actions, the bill contains no provision for affidavits or proof of publication required for newspaper notice.”

Currently, publication of notices of action and the proof of publication are covered in Section 49.10, FLORIDA STATUTES. Notices must be published in a newspaper in the county where the court is located. Fla. Stat. §49.10(1)(a)

The nature of the newspaper (in which notices must be published) is governed by Section 50.011, FLORIDA STATUTES, which lists six requirements:

A. of a public character or
B. of interest or value to the residents or owners of property in the county where published, or
C. of interest or of value to the general public

The seventh and eighth requirements are imposed by Section 50 031, FLORIDA STATUTES:

The eighth requirement is additionally refined in Section 50.051, FLORIDA STATUTES, which requires the Proof of Publication state that the newspaper

“is a newspaper published at ______, in said ______ County, Florida, and that the said newspaper has heretofore been entered as periodicals matter at the post office in ______, in said ______ County, Florida, for a period of 1 year next preceding the publication of the attached copy of advertisement… .”

Section 49.10, FLORIDA STATUTES, requires that the Proof of Publication must comply with the requirements of law. In other words, the Proof of Publication must provide under oath that the newspaper meets all statutory requirements.