HB 35 would allow governments to control public notices.
Brannan
The public’s right to know through current public notices could become an online scavenger hunt with government in charge.
Florida House Bill 35, which could be voted on by the representatives as early as this week after discussion Thursday and a potential second reading, would allow taxing authorities — county commissions, city councils and school boards as well as other entities including the Lake Shore Hospital Authority and the Suwannee River Water Management District — to self-publish public notices online.
The bill gives each group the option of deciding where to post the public notices online. Each entity could choose to post the notices on its own website or each could create a separate website just to post its public notices, leading to the scattering of notices for interested taxpayers.
State law currently requires those taxing boards to post public notices in their local legal newspaper. A legal newspaper is a newspaper with a periodicals permit, a distinct publishing schedule and a certain percentage of paid advertising compared to informational news content.
Current state law also spells out in detail how government entities should advertise public notices to inform the public about upcoming hearings and other official business, such as property tax increases, land-use changes, potential zoning or annexation or other potential government actions that could directly affect the general public.
Legal newspapers also provide a signed and notarized legal affidavit as proof of publication for the entity that posted the public notice.
State law also requires these published accounts to be published online at www.floridapublicrecords.com, an independent site operated by the Florida Press Association. Every public notice advertised under the guidelines of Florida law must be included on this website. This site also must be linked to the home page of every legal newspaper in the state and be free to use by any member of the public in front of any pay wall device on a legal newspaper’s website.
The Lake City Reporter is a legal newspaper and gains a small portion of its revenue from public notice advertising. It serves Columbia, Suwannee and Hamilton counties. The statewide website for public notices can be viewed for free by clicking “Public Notices” at the top of the home page at www.lakecityreporter.com. The online portal is free to use by anyone and does not require a subscription to the newspaper.
HB 35 underwent its first reading last Thursday, a day after it received a favorable vote by the House’s Judiciary Committee. State Rep. Chuck Brannan, whose district includes Columbia, Suwannee and Hamilton counties, is a member of that committee, which approved the bill by a 17-4 vote. Brannan, who said he’s not a fan of the bill, still voted in favor of it.
“I don’t like it,” Brannan said. “But as long as it’s not getting traction in the Senate, I have to kind of play the game to get what I need.
“It’s a trade off to get some of what I need to keep moving and going. As long as it’s not getting a whole lot of traction over there, I’m able to kill two birds with one stone.”
The bill’s counterpart in the Senate — Senate Bill 402 — has not moved, twice having its initial committee hearing postponed.
If the bills were signed into law, the search would be on for taxpayers who desire to stay informed, as each taxing authority could post the notices on their own websites. The proposed bill also does not specify the lead times for public notices before events, if any record of the posting is necessary and for how long any notice would be displayed electronically.
Broadband internet access, which the proposed bill counts on, is poor in many rural areas of Columbia, Suwannee and Hamilton counties, as well as other rural areas throughout Florida.
The bill includes language requiring officials in fiscally constrained counties — poor, rural counties such as those in North Florida — to hold a public hearing to determine there is sufficient internet access as well as if the online posting is in the public’s interest. The wording of the bill on the specific requirements of government notification obligation to the public is very vague, calling only for “reasonable” advance notice.
Brannan said that requirement is not met anywhere in his district, which also includes Baker County and a portion of Alachua County.
“They’d be restricted right now anyway because of that total internet coverage,” Brannan said.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay. Fine sponsored similar legislation the past two years as well. Both times it passed in the House but died in the Senate without a floor vote.