| | | | | | | |  | Committee Assignments - C4 L
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM |
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| | | | | | | | | TO: | Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission | | | FROM: | Vice-Mayor Michael Gongora | | | DATE: | May 12, 2021 | | | |
| | SUBJECT: | REFERRAL TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND QUALITY OF LIFE COMMITTEE - DISCUSSION REGARDING HOW HOUSE BILL 35 (LEGAL NOTICES) WILL AFFECT THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH. |
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| | | | | | | | ANALYSIS
| Please place on the May 12 agenda, a referral to the Neighborhood and Quality of Life Committee to discuss House Bill 35 (Legal Notices), which looks likely to become law. The Senate version kept the legal notices provision of State law, but it added provisions that would allow smaller publications to publish legal notices.
Current State law essentially only allows the publication of legal notices in newspapers that 1) publish at least once per week and 2) are offered for sale. Any legal notice published in a newspaper must also be published on a newspaper’s website. Generally, only larger newspapers meet these requirements. The City utilizes the Miami Herald to place to publish its legal notices. Last fiscal year, the City spent $89,468.50 on Miami Herald legal notices.
The Senate’s measure would allow any newspaper with at least 10% readership in a County or Municipality, as calculated by a combination of its print circulation and online readership, to post paid legal notices. This would allow free newspapers and mostly online publications to benefit from legal notice revenue. There is also a carve-out in the bill to allow some newspapers in smaller counties to post legal notices even if they do not meet these circulation requirements.
I request that the City Clerk to determine, based on the provisions of House Bill 35, if additional newspapers in the County or City qualify to publish legal notices. If so, will there be any savings if publication of legal notices shifted to these additional newspapers? Please see Miami Herald article attached. Please feel free to contact Diana Fontani should you need any additional information.
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| | | | | | | | SUPPORTING SURVEY DATA
| | N/A |
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| | | | | | | | | Is this a "Residents Right to Know" item, pursuant to City Code Section 2-14? | | Does this item utilize G.O. Bond Funds? | | | Yes | | No | |
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| | | | | | | | Legislative Tracking
Vice-Mayor Michael Gongora |
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