Lawmaker proposes placing them on the Internet. Publishers voice opposition.
By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published August 19, 2003
For years, Florida law has required that zoning changes, tax-delinquent properties and other community concerns be advertised in print.
It's the public's right to know, newspaper publishers say. It's also a lucrative business.
The St. Petersburg Times earns more than $750,000 per year from legal notices and employs the equivalent of nearly three full-time staff to handle the requests, according to advertising director Richard Reeves. The Pinellas Review, a 1,000-circulation weekly, gets 90 percent of its revenue from such ads.
"I would have a heck of a good time finding a replacement revenue stream," said editor and publisher Robert Potter.
But House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, thinks it might be time for a change.
At a public hearing tonight in Tampa, local businesses and citizens will debate Byrd's informal proposal to remove legal notices from the newspapers and put them on the Internet. A similar hearing was scheduled for Monday night in Fort Lauderdale.
"The idea is, are there things we could do solely electronically that may be more convenient and, at the same time, produce cost savings," said Byrd's policy coordinator, Stephen Hogge.
Newspaper executives wasted no time mobilizing. In a "legislative alert" sent the same day as Byrd's invitation, the Florida Press Association urged its members to attend public hearings and express their concerns.
"Bottom line, we think this is a very important component of newspapers, very important to the public. It works, and we want it to be able to continue," said association executive director Dean Ridings.
Industry executives said there is more than money at stake. They point out that many Floridians lack a computer or Internet access at home. Without newspaper notices, such individuals wouldn't know it if a fast-food restaurant or power company had applied to move in next door, or a long-lost uncle died and left them money.
"To properly serve the community and affected parties, print is still a vital part," said Tampa Tribune publisher Gil Thelen.
With fewer eyeballs on public notices, municipalities might receive fewer bids on city projects, and taxpayers might end up paying more than they have to, said St. Petersburg attorney George Rahdert, whose clients include the St. Petersburg Times.
Rahdert also questioned Byrd's motives. The Plant City legislator has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on public relations and lashed out at a number of Florida newspapers for allegedly treating him unfairly. "It appears that he is expressing his displeasure with news coverage of his speakership," Rahdert said.
Rep. Jeffrey Kottkamp, who is vice chairman of the state administration committee that Byrd told to explore the proposal, disagreed. "We're not going to use the legislative process as a means of getting back at people, and I'm certain that's not at the heart of why we're looking at this," he said. Kottkamp is host of tonight's hearing at 6 o'clock at the University of South Florida's TECO Conference Hall.
Matt Walsh, editor and publisher of the weekly Tampa Bay Review and Gulf Coast Business Review, said he wouldn't trust the government to police the electronic publishing of public notices about its own activities. "Do you want the fox to guard the hen house?" Walsh said in an e-mail. "If anything, perhaps public notices should be available in print, on television and online."
In fact, most Florida newspapers publish their legal notices both in print and at floridapublicnotices.com, an industry-created Web site that allows free searching by the public.
In similar debates elsewhere in the United States, municipal governments have been the strongest advocates for putting legal notices online as they battle budget crises.
The League of Kansas Municipalities estimated its members could save $3-million by switching to online notices. Legislative battles have been waged recently in Texas, Idaho, Utah, Wisconsin and other states.
Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, sponsored a bill several years ago that would have reduced the number of times a tax-delinquent property had to be advertised before being sold off. He credits Hillsborough County tax collector Doug Belden with suggesting the bill, which encountered strong opposition from the newspaper industry and did not pass.
It's not clear how much support Byrd's proposal would get in Tallahassee if he submitted as a bill. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Lauderdale, who chairs the House Committee on State Administration and called the hearings, said moving legal notices out of the newspaper was not his idea. "There is no intention of (sponsoring a) bill on my part," he said.
- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet and Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report. Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or 727 893-8751.
