Good news: By March 1, 2021, bills had been introduced in 20 states that would have moved all public notice, or a significant percentage of it, from newspapers to government websites. A year later we’ve seen similar legislation in only six states.
Bad news: The bill in one of those states — Florida House Bill 7049 — is a serious threat to become law. HB-7049 passed out of committee last Monday and is expected to be approved by the full House sometime this week.
So the battle over public notice in Florida comes down to the Senate, as it has in the past.
Public notice in Florida in peril once again
Our original headline for this story was “Newspaper notice off to good start in 2022.” But late last night we learned that Florida — a state that last year passed a progressive bill paving the way for the eventual migration of statutory notice to newspaper websites — was in play once again.
We haven’t had time to digest the 40-page bill, but it’s clearly designed to undo the work that went into last year’s historic legislation by moving public notice to government websites. The committee bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee this morning with GOP backing on a straight party-line vote.
Self-storage industry tries something new
The last time we checked in on the self-storage industry, it had helped pass new laws in four states relieving itself of the burden of informing its indebted customers via newspaper ads that it was about to sell their property. By some estimates, about 30 states have now enacted statutes providing self-storage operators with non-newspaper notice options that are woefully insufficient.
The private-equity dominated industry is back this year with legislation in at least five states that would give it the option to jettison newspaper notice of lien sales.
Year-in-Review: The five best new public notice laws of 2021
We began 2021 with a sense of dread. We feared it might be the year the first state legislature moved public notice from newspapers to government websites.
But that didn’t happen.
With only a handful of state legislatures still in session and little chance any of them will pass significant public notice legislation by the end of the year, newspaper notice is still alive and mostly well in every state.
PNRC issues self-storage flyer
In 2013, the Ohio Legislature passed a law giving self-storage facilities a choice of how to provide public notice of lien sales of the personal property of defaulting renters. Instead of requiring them to publish two ads about each sale in a local newspaper, the bill also gave them the option to advertise in “any other commercially reasonably manner.” The mode of advertising would be deemed reasonable if “at least three independent bidders attend the sale.”
This year, the self-storage industry is backing a new piece of legislation in Ohio. SB-79 would provide self-storage operators with even more flexibility. It would:
Poor customer service a threat to newspaper notice
Article III, Section 13(A) of Louisiana’s Constitution requires legislators to publish two notices in a local paper when they plan to introduce a “local or special law” in the state legislature. The notices must “state the substance of the contemplated law, and every such bill shall recite that notice has been given.”
So: No notice, no bill.
Some Louisiana lawmakers may have been prevented from introducing local bills this year due to a lack of notice. We know this because — much to the chagrin of the Louisiana Press Association (LPA) — it became a topic of discussion in the legislature during discussions over Senate Bill 101, which authorized self-storage facilities to advertise lien sales “on a publicly accessible website that conducts personal property auctions” in lieu of a newspaper.
‘Devastating’ public notice bill debated in Pennsylvania
A hearing was held last week in Pennsylvania on House Bill 955, which would provide local governments in the state with the option to move their notices from paid-circulation newspapers to government websites or government-printed publications, newspaper websites, free-circulation newspapers, legal newspapers or shoppers.
The hearing was notable for the breadth of issues it addressed and the emphasis the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association placed on the economic impact the bill would have on local newspapers in the state if it passes.
New Florida public notice law first to authorize internet-only notices
Last Thursday evening, the Florida legislature passed the most significant piece of public notice legislation in modern history.
Sen. Ray Rodrigues’ (R-Fort Myers) SB402 makes Florida the first state in the country to significantly dilute the statutory requirement that notices must be published in print newspapers. But there’s a lot for the newspaper industry and residents of the state to like about the bill.
It’s certainly an improvement over the alternative, Rep. Randy Fine’s (R-Palm Bay) HB35, which would have moved public notice in the state from newspapers to government websites. Fine’s bill had passed the House by the time SB402 started picking up steam in the Senate.
In Indiana, future of notice arrives earlier than expected
By the time Indiana’s 2020 legislative session had ended, the Hoosier State Press Association promised leadership in both chambers it would begin working on a proposal outlining what notice in the state might look like in a future in which print newspapers were no longer its primary vehicle. Like other state press groups, HSPA would prefer to keep public notice in newspapers, where they belong. But the newspaper group was bowing to reality, according to Executive Director Steve Key. After mostly holding off 91 bad public notice bills in the past 21 legislative sessions, even erstwhile supporters in the legislature were telling Key it was time to look to the future.
It’s House vs Senate in Florida
Rep. Randy Fine’s (R-Palm Bay) House Bill 35 passed the Florida House on March 18 by a lopsided, almost party-line vote of 85-34. HB 35 would move all notice from newspapers to “publicly accessible websites and government access channels” — as a practical matter ending the long tradition of newspaper notice in the state.
But Rep. Fine’s bill was expected to pass the House, as it did in both 2019 and 2020. The question was always the Senate. Would HB35 stall in the upper chamber like it did the last two sessions?