‘Our newspapers are struggling as it is’: Florida Legislature passes bill shifting public notices away from legacy media

The Senate voted 26-13 in favor of changing requirements for Florida governments to notice meetings in local newspapers.

The legislation (HB 7049) would allow governments instead to publish notices digitally on websites maintained by county governments.

Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Lake Mary Republican carrying the bill in the Senate, said the bill opens up the ability of governments to put public notices out in more ways than ever possible.

“You want to give notice to the most amount of people possible,” he argued on the Senate floor.

Of note, the legislation still allows governments to put notices in papers. The Senate on Wednesday amended the legislation to make clear what publications could qualify to meet notice requirements, including any periodical that is “available to the public generally for the publication of official or other notices and customarily containing information of a public character or of interest or of value to the residents or owners of property in the county where published, or of interest or of value to the general public.”

Brodeur said that means an enormous amount of noticing. People will be able to read notices in free papers, high-circulation papers or on dedicated websites.

But that amendment means the bill will have to go back to the House. There, Rep. Randy Fine, a Palm Bay Republican and the bill’s sponsor, said he had no problem with the amendment. The House passed the legislation in a 79-40 vote.

Fine said while he had no problem with governments publishing notices in free papers or paid papers, he would not.

“To be perfectly honest, if this passes and I ran a local government, I wouldn’t be putting in newspapers at all,” he said. “I would be putting them online.”

Dropping any requirement for noticing in newspapers has alarmed publishers across the state, especially for small papers where such notices make up a large portion of revenues.

Brodeur said that can’t be what drives policy for the state. In a Rules Committee hearing, he said if a newspaper’s “business model is dependent on a government handout, that may not be a sustainable model.”

Sen. Gary Farmer, a Lighthouse Point Democrat, said on the floor that cutting money from newspapers will lead to a loss to journalism.

“Our newspapers are struggling as it is,” Farmer said. “Information is power.”

He said notices have allowed papers to hold on as more information shifts online. Increasingly, he fretted about corporate interests taking over the news.

If the bill becomes law, it will change notice requirements for the second year in a row. Critics note it has been just over two months since an arrangement negotiated as a compromise last year has been in effect.