No. CS/CS/SB 380
Filed under Legal.
Legal Notices; Revising the definition of the term “governmental agency”; requiring that certain legal notices be continuously published for a specified timeframe when the notices are for a specified purpose and provided under a certain circumstance; authorizing certain counties or specified municipalities, school boards, clerks of the circuit court, and tax collectors to use a publicly accessible website to publish certain advertisements and legal notices under specified conditions, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDClerks of court, tax collectors, and water management districts now count as "governmental agencies" under this chapter, giving them the same option other local governments have to publish legal notices on a website instead of in a newspaper.
A municipality, clerk of court, tax collector, or water management district can now use its own official website for these notices, rather than being limited to publishing on the county's website.
Small counties under 160,000 people, and municipalities, school boards, clerks, or tax collectors located inside one, no longer have to show that 75 percent of their own population sits in that small county to qualify for cheaper website publication.
Notices about an ongoing government activity must stay posted online for at least two weeks, and notices about a specific future event must stay posted until that event happens.
AIClerks of the circuit court, tax collectors, and water management districts operating under chapter 373 are added to the definition of governmental agency for this chapter, giving them the same legal-notice publication options as counties, municipalities, and school boards.
AIFor legal notices these entity types must publish under section 50.011, publicly accessible website now includes the entity's own official website or a website it designates, not only the county's website or the county's designated website.
AIA legal notice or advertisement posted on a publicly accessible website must now stay continuously published for at least two weeks if it reports the status of a government activity, or through the date of the event it announces.
AIA county with under 160,000 people, or a municipality, school board, clerk of court, or tax collector located inside one, now qualifies for the small-jurisdiction website-notice option without having to show that 75 percent of its own population sits in that county, a test still required of other local-government units.
AIFor the rule requiring a special district that spans several counties to publish its notices on each county's website, special district is now defined to exclude a water management district operating under chapter 373, even though such districts are newly counted as governmental agencies elsewhere in this same statute.