Bill Text: FL S1710 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Legal and Official Advertisements
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2019-05-03 - Died in Judiciary [S1710 Detail]
Download: Florida-2019-S1710-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2019 SB 1710 By Senator Diaz 36-01821-19 20191710__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to legal and official advertisements; 3 amending ss. 50.011, 50.021, 50.0211, and 50.031, 4 F.S.; authorizing the publication of legal and 5 official advertisements on specified publicly 6 accessible governmental websites in lieu of 7 publication in a newspaper; providing an effective 8 date. 9 10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11 12 Section 1. Section 50.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to 13 read: 14 50.011 Where and in what language legal notices to be 15 published.—Whenever by statute an official or a legal 16 advertisement or a publication, or notice in a newspaper has 17 been or is directed or permitted in the nature of or in lieu of 18 process, or for constructive service, or in initiating, 19 assuming, reviewing, exercising or enforcing jurisdiction or 20 power, or for any purpose, including all legal notices and 21 advertisements of sheriffs and tax collectors, the 22 contemporaneous and continuous intent and meaning of such 23 legislation all and singular, existing or repealed, is and has 24 been and is hereby declared to be and to have been, and the rule 25 of interpretation is and has been, a publication in a newspaper 26 printed and published periodically once a week or more 27 frequentlyoftener, containing at least 25 percent of its words 28 in the English language, entered or qualified to be admitted and 29 entered as periodicals matter at a post office in the county 30 where published, for sale to the public generally, available to 31 the public generally for the publication of official or other 32 notices and customarily containing information of a public 33 character or of interest or of value to the residents or owners 34 of property in the county where published, or of interest or of 35 value to the general public. Notwithstanding any other provision 36 of law, the publication of a notice or an advertisement on a 37 publicly accessible website maintained by a county or 38 municipality constitutes legal notice for purposes of this 39 section. 40 Section 2. Section 50.021, Florida Statutes, is amended to 41 read: 42 50.021 Publication when no newspaper in county.— 43 (1) When any law, or order or decree of court, directs 44shall directadvertisements to be made in any county andthere45beno newspaper is published in suchthe saidcounty, the 46 advertisement may be made by posting three copies of the 47 advertisementthereofin three different locations within the 48places in saidcounty, one of which mustshallbe at the front 49 door of the courthouse, and by publication in the nearest county 50 in which a newspaper is published. 51 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a county, 52 municipality, or dependent special district may publish such an 53 advertisement on a publicly accessible website maintained by a 54 county or municipality in lieu of the notice required under 55 subsection (1). 56 Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 50.0211, Florida 57 Statutes, is amended, and subsection (5) is added to that 58 section, to read: 59 50.0211 Internet website publication.— 60 (2) If legal notice is published in a newspaper, each such 61 legal notice must be posted on the newspaper’s website on the 62 same day that the printed notice appears in the newspaper, at no 63 additional charge, in a separate web page titled “Legal 64 Notices,” “Legal Advertising,” or comparable identifying 65 language. A link to the legal notices web page shall be provided 66 on the front page of the newspaper’s website that provides 67 access to the legal notices. If there is a specified size and 68 placement required for a printed legal notice, the size and 69 placement of the notice on the newspaper’s website must optimize 70 its online visibility in keeping with the print requirements. 71 The newspaper’s web pages that contain legal notices must 72 present the legal notices as the dominant and leading subject 73 matter of those pages. The newspaper’s website must contain a 74 search function to facilitate searching the legal notices. A fee 75 may not be charged, and registration may not be required, for 76 viewing or searching legal notices on a newspaper’s website if 77 the legal notice is published in a newspaper. 78 (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 79 publication of a notice or an advertisement on a publicly 80 accessible website maintained by a county or municipality 81 constitutes legal notice for purposes of this section. 82 Section 4. Section 50.031, Florida Statutes, is amended to 83 read: 84 50.031 Newspapers in which legal notices and process may be 85 published.—No notice or publication required to be published in 86 a newspaper in the nature of or in lieu of process of any kind, 87 nature, character or description provided for under any law of 88 the state, whether heretofore or hereafter enacted, and whether 89 pertaining to constructive service, or the initiating, assuming, 90 reviewing, exercising or enforcing jurisdiction or power, by any 91 court in this state, or any notice of sale of property, real or 92 personal, for taxes, state, county or municipal, or sheriff’s, 93 guardian’s or administrator’s or any sale made pursuant to any 94 judicial order, decree or statute or any other publication or 95 notice pertaining to any affairs of the state, or any county, 96 municipality or other political subdivision thereof, shall be 97 deemed to have been published in accordance with the statutes 98 providing for such publication, unless the same shall have been 99 published for the prescribed period of time required for such 100 publication, in a newspaper which at the time of such 101 publication shall have been in existence for 1 year and shall 102 have been entered as periodicals matter at a post office in the 103 county where published, or in a newspaper which is a direct 104 successor of a newspaper which together have been so published; 105 provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall apply 106 where in any county there shall be no newspaper in existence 107 which shall have been published for the length of time above 108 prescribed. No legal publication of any kind, nature or 109 description, as herein defined, shall be valid or binding or 110 held to be in compliance with the statutes providing for such 111 publication unless the same shall have been published in 112 accordance with the provisions of this section. Proof of such 113 publication shall be made by uniform affidavit. Notwithstanding 114 any other provision of law, the publication of a notice or an 115 advertisement on a publicly accessible website maintained by a 116 county or municipality constitutes legal notice for purposes of 117 this section. 118 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.