CS/CS/HB 937 - Legal Notices Summary

• Requires newspapers publishing legal notices to also post them on their website at no additional charge, effective July 1, 2013, with free public access and a search function

• Mandates legal notices be published on www.floridapublicnotices.com (Florida Press Association repository) and requires newspapers to provide free email notification of new legal notices upon request

• Establishes that errors on newspaper or statewide websites are harmless errors and do not affect legal notice requirements if the printed newspaper notice is correct

• Authorizes electronic proof of publication affidavits meeting specified notarization requirements as an alternative to paper affidavits

• Limits rates charged for government notices required to be published multiple times to 85 percent of the original rate for subsequent insertions; eliminates prior county population-based rate tiers

• Deletes requirement that certain legal notices be published in Leon County, instead allowing publication in newspapers of general circulation in affected areas or on department websites

• Effective date is July 1, 2012, except where otherwise specified in the act