Senate Bill 1316 (2023) — Information dissemination
SB 1316
Florida Bills
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 By Senator Brodeur 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 1 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to information dissemination; amending 2 s. 45.031, F.S.; deleting a provision requiring a 3 judicial notice of sale to be published for a 4 specified timeframe on a publicly accessible website; 5 amending s. 50.0311, F.S.; specifying that a 6 governmental agency may use the public website of a 7 county to publish legally required advertisements and 8 public notices if the cost for such publication is not 9 paid by or recovered from a person; creating s. 10 286.31, F.S.; defining terms; requiring bloggers to 11 register with the Office of Legislative Services or 12 the Commission on Ethics, as applicable, within a 13 specified timeframe; requiring such bloggers to file 14 monthly reports with the appropriate office by a 15 certain date; providing an exception; specifying 16 reporting requirements; authorizing a magistrate to 17 enter a final order determining the reasonableness of 18 circumstances for an untimely filing or a fine amount; 19 requiring that the Legislature and the Commission on 20 Ethics adopt a specified rule; providing penalties for 21 late filing; prohibiting the assessment of a fine for 22 the first time a report is not timely filed, under 23 specified conditions; authorizing bloggers to appeal a 24 fine within a specified timeframe; specifying the 25 appeal process; authorizing bloggers to request that 26 the appropriate office waive the reporting requirement 27 under specified conditions; providing that unpaid 28 fines for a specified timeframe may be recovered 29
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 2 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. through the courts of this state; providing an 30 effective date. 31 32 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 33 34
Section 1. Subsection (2) of
section 45.031, Florida 35 Statutes, is amended to read: 36 45.031 Judicial sales procedure.—In any sale of real or 37 personal property under an order or judgment, the procedures 38 provided in this
section and ss. 45.0315-45.035 may be followed 39 as an alternative to any other sale procedure if so ordered by 40 the court. 41
(2) PUBLICATION OF SALE.—Notice of sale shall be published 42 on a publicly accessible website as provided in s. 50.0311 for 43 at least 2 consecutive weeks before the sale or once a week for 44 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation, as 45 provided in
chapter 50, published in the county where the sale 46 is to be held. The second publication by newspaper shall be at 47 least 5 days before the sale. The notice shall contain: 48 (
a) A description of the property to be sold. 49 (
b) The time and place of sale. 50 (
c) A statement that the sale will be made pursuant to the 51 order or final judgment. 52 (
d) The caption of the action. 53 (
e) The name of the clerk making the sale. 54 (
f) A statement that any person claiming an interest in the 55 surplus from the sale, if any, other than the property owner as 56 of the date of the lis pendens must file a claim before the 57 clerk reports the surplus as unclaimed. 58
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 3 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. 59 The court, in its discretion, may enlarge the time of the sale. 60 Notice of the changed time of sale shall be published as 61 provided herein. 62
Section
Section 50.0311, Florida Statutes, is amended to 63 read: 64 50.0311 Publication of governmental agency advertisements 65 and public notices on a publicly accessible website and 66 governmental access channels.— 67
(1) For purposes of this chapter, the term “governmental 68 agency” means a county, municipality, school board, or other 69 unit of local government or political subdivision in this state. 70
(2) For purposes of notices and advertisements required 71 under s. 50.011, the term “publicly accessible website” means a 72 county’s official website or other private website designated by 73 the county for the publication of legal notices and 74 advertisements that is accessible via the Internet. All 75 advertisements and public notices published on a website as 76 provided in this
chapter must be in searchable form and indicate 77 the date on which the advertisement or public notice was first 78 published on the website. 79
(3) A governmental agency may use the publicly accessible 80 website of the county in which it lies to publish legally 81 required advertisements and public notices if the cost of 82 publishing advertisements and public notices on such website is 83 less than the cost of publishing advertisements and public 84 notices in a newspaper, and the cost for publication is not to 85 be paid by or recovered from a person. 86
(4) A governmental agency with at least 75 percent of its 87
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 4 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. population located within a county with a population of fewer 88 than 160,000 may use a publicly accessible website to publish 89 legally required advertisements and public notices only if the 90 governing body of the governmental agency, at a public hearing 91 that has been noticed in a newspaper as provided in this 92 chapter, determines that the residents of the governmental 93 agency have sufficient access to the Internet by broadband 94 service, as defined in s. 364.02, or by any other means, such 95 that publishing advertisements and public notices on a publicly 96 accessible website will not unreasonably restrict public access. 97
(5) A special district spanning the geographic boundaries 98 of more than one county that satisfies the criteria for 99 publishing and chooses to publish legally required 100 advertisements and public notices on a publicly accessible 101 website must publish such advertisements and public notices on 102 the publicly accessible website of each county it spans. For 103 purposes of this subsection, the term “special district” has the 104 same meaning as in s. 189.012. 105
(6) A governmental agency that uses a publicly accessible 106 website to publish legally required advertisements and public 107 notices shall provide notice at least once per year in a 108 newspaper of general circulation or another publication that is 109 mailed or delivered to all residents and property owners 110 throughout the government’s jurisdiction, indicating that 111 property owners and residents may receive legally required 112 advertisements and public notices from the governmental agency 113 by first-class mail or e-mail upon registering their name and 114 address or e-mail address with the governmental agency. The 115 governmental agency shall maintain a registry of names, 116
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 5 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. addresses, and e-mail addresses of property owners and residents 117 who have requested in writing that they receive legally required 118 advertisements and public notices from the governmental agency 119 by first-class mail or e-mail. 120
(7) A link to advertisements and public notices published 121 on a publicly accessible website shall be conspicuously placed: 122 (
a) On the website’s homepage or on a page accessible 123 through a direct link from the homepage. 124 (
b) On the homepage of the website of each governmental 125 agency publishing notices on the publicly accessible website or 126 on a page accessible through a direct link from the homepage. 127
(8) A governmental agency that has a governmental access 128 channel authorized under s. 610.109 may also include on its 129 governmental access channel a
summary of all advertisements and 130 public notices that are published on a publicly accessible 131 website. 132
(9) A public bid advertisement made by a governmental 133 agency on a publicly accessible website must include a method to 134 accept electronic bids. 135
Section
Section 286.31, Florida Statutes, is created to 136 read: 137 286.31 Blogger registration and reporting.— 138
(1) As used in this section, the term: 139 (a) “Blog” means a website or webpage that hosts any 140 blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or 141 business content. The term does not include the website of a 142 newspaper or other similar publication. 143 (b) “Blogger” means any person as defined in s. 1.01(3) 144 that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently 145
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 6 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. published. 146 (c) “Blog post” is an individual webpage on a blog which 147 contains an article, a story, or a series of stories. 148 (d) “Compensation” includes anything of value provided to a 149 blogger in exchange for a blog post or series of blog posts.
If 150 not provided in currency, it must be the fair-market value of 151 the item or service exchanged. 152 (e) “Elected state officer” means the Governor, the 153 Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the 154 Legislature. 155 (f) “Office” means, in the context of a blog post about a 156 member of the Legislature, the Office of Legislative Services 157 or, in the context of a blog post about a member of the 158 executive branch, the Commission on Ethics, as applicable. 159
(2) If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state 160 officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that 161 post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as 162 identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first 163 post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer. 164 (3)(
a) Upon registering with the appropriate office, a 165 blogger must file monthly reports on the 10th day following the 166 end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to 167 the blog, except that, if the 10th day following the end of a 168 calendar month occurs on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, 169 the report must be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, 170 Sunday, or legal holiday. 171 (
b) If the blogger does not have a blog post on a blog 172 during a given month, the monthly report for that month does not 173 need to be filed. 174
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 7 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. (
c) The blogger must file reports with the appropriate 175 office using the electronic filing system: 176 1. As provided in s. 11.0455 if the blog post concerns an 177 elected member of the Legislature; or 178 2. As provided in s. 112.32155 if the blog post concerns an 179 officer of the executive branch. 180 (
d) The reports must include all of the following: 181 1. The individual or entity that compensated the blogger 182 for the blog post. 183 2. The amount of compensation received from the individual 184 or entity, regardless of how the compensation was structured. 185 a. The amount must be rounded to the nearest $10 increment. 186 b.
If the compensation is for a series of blog posts or for 187 a defined period of time, the blogger must disclose the total 188 amount to be received upon the first blog post being published. 189 Thereafter, the blogger must disclose the date or dates 190 additional compensation is received, if any, for the series of 191 blog posts. 192 3. The date the blog post was published. If the blog post 193 is part of a series, the date each blog post is published must 194 be included in the applicable report. 195 4. The website and website address where the blog post can 196 be found. 197
(4) Notwithstanding any other law, a magistrate is 198 authorized to enter a final order in determination of the 199 reasonableness of circumstances for an untimely filing of a 200 required report and the amount of a fine, if any. 201
(5) Each house of the Legislature and the Commission on 202 Ethics shall adopt by rule, for application to bloggers, the 203
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 8 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. same procedure by which lobbyists are notified of the failure to 204 timely file a report and the amount of the assessed fines. The 205 rule must also provide for, but need not be limited to, the 206 following provisions: 207 (
a) A fine of $25 per day per report for each day late, not 208 to exceed $2,500 per report. 209 (
b) Upon receipt of an untimely filed report, the amount of 210 the fine must be based upon the earlier of the following: 211 1. The date and time that the untimely report is actually 212 received by the office. 213 2. The date and time on the electronic receipt issued 214 pursuant to s. 11.0455 or s. 112.32155. 215 (
c) The fine must be paid within 30 days after the notice 216 of payment due is transmitted, unless an appeal is filed with 217 the office. The fine amount must be deposited into: 218 1. If the report in question relates to a post about a 219 member of the Legislature, the Legislative Lobbyist Registration 220 Trust Fund; 221 2. If the report in question relates to a post about a 222 member of the executive branch, the Executive Branch Lobby 223 Registration Trust Fund; or 224 3.
If the report in question relates to a post about 225 members of both the Legislature and the executive branch, the 226 lobbyist registration trust funds identified in subparagraphs 1. 227 and 2., in equal amounts. 228 (
d) A fine may not be assessed against a blogger the first 229 time a report for which the blogger is responsible is not timely 230 filed. However, to receive this one-time fine waiver, all 231 untimely filed reports for which the blogger remains responsible 232
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1316 10-00366B-23 20231316__ Page 9 of 9 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. for filing must be filed with the office within 30 days after 233 the notice of untimely filing was transmitted to the blogger. A 234 fine must be assessed for any subsequent late-filed reports. 235 (
e) The blogger is entitled to appeal a fine, based upon 236 reasonable circumstances surrounding the failure to file by the 237 designated date, by making a written request to the office for a 238 hearing before the magistrate from the Second Judicial Circuit. 239 Any such request must be made within 30 days after the notice of 240 payment due is transmitted to the blogger. The office shall 241 transmit all such timely, written requests to the chief judge of 242 the Second Judicial Circuit along with the evidence the office 243 relied on in assessing the fine.
The magistrate, after holding a 244 hearing, shall render a final order, upholding the fine or 245 waiving it in full or in part. 246 (
f) A blogger may request that the filing of a report be 247 waived upon good cause shown based on reasonable circumstances. 248 The request must be filed with the office, which may grant or 249 deny the request. 250 (
g) Fines that remain unpaid for a period in excess of 100 251 days after final determination are eligible for recovery through 252 the courts of this state. 253