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23 legislation all and singular, existing or repealed, is and has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 frequently oftener, 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
44 shall direct advertisements to be made in any county and there
45 be no newspaper is published in such the said county, the
46 advertisement may be made by posting three copies of the
47 advertisement thereof in three different locations within the
48 places in said county, one of which must shall be 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.