This bill relates to publication of notices.
BOND ELECTIONS (Section 108.240)
This bill provides that, in the case of a bond election, if an election contest is not filed within 30 days after the official announcement of the election result, all conditions of state election law will be deemed to have been complied with in the issuance of the bond.
ELECTION NOTICE AND CANDIDATE FILING (Sections 115.125 and 115.127)
The bill allows a notice of election to be sent by email.
Currently, the first notice of election must be published within two weeks prior to the election, and the second must be published within one week prior to the election. This bill requires both notices to be published within six weeks prior to the election.
Currently, jurisdictions with populations under a certain size and in which no newspaper meeting the legal requirements is published are permitted to send legal notice to voters via mail instead of publishing the notice in a newspaper. This bill allows any election authority the option to mail legal notice and publish the notice once in one or more newspapers in the county. The mailing must occur within six weeks prior to the election. The election authority is permitted to exclude from the mailing any voter designated as inactive.
Currently, the filing time for declarations of candidacy for offices in political subdivisions or special districts not otherwise specified in law or charter is from the 17th Tuesday prior to the election through the 14th Tuesday prior to the election. This bill moves the filing time by one week, from the 16th Tuesday prior to the election to the 13th Tuesday prior to the election. The bill also provides that, if the 13th Tuesday prior to the election is a State or Federal holiday, the closing filing date will be the next day that is not a State or Federal holiday.
NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS (Sections 493.050 and 493.070)
Currently, in order to qualify to run public notices and advertisements, a newspaper must have been published regularly for a period of three years or it must be the successor newspaper to a defunct newspaper and begin publication no later than 30 days after the termination of the prior newspaper.
This bill reduces the time period of regular publication from three years to one year and increases the time period from 30 days to 90 days within which a successor newspaper must begin publication.
The bill also allows a newspaper that has been purchased or newly established by another newspaper that satisfies these conditions to qualify.
Statutes affected: