Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

       Florida Senate - 2023                                    SB 1316



       By Senator Brodeur





       10-00366B-23                                          20231316__
                      A bill to be entitled                      
       An act relating to information dissemination; amending
       s. 45.031, F.S.; deleting a provision requiring a
       judicial notice of sale to be published for a
       specified timeframe on a publicly accessible website;
       amending s. 50.0311, F.S.; specifying that a
       governmental agency may use the public website of a
       county to publish legally required advertisements and
       public notices if the cost for such publication is not
       paid by or recovered from a person; creating s.
       286.31, F.S.; defining terms; requiring bloggers to
       register with the Office of Legislative Services or
       the Commission on Ethics, as applicable, within a
       specified timeframe; requiring such bloggers to file
       monthly reports with the appropriate office by a
       certain date; providing an exception; specifying
       reporting requirements; authorizing a magistrate to
       enter a final order determining the reasonableness of
       circumstances for an untimely filing or a fine amount;
       requiring that the Legislature and the Commission on
       Ethics adopt a specified rule; providing penalties for
       late filing; prohibiting the assessment of a fine for
       the first time a report is not timely filed, under
       specified conditions; authorizing bloggers to appeal a
       fine within a specified timeframe; specifying the
       appeal process; authorizing bloggers to request that
       the appropriate office waive the reporting requirement
       under specified conditions; providing that unpaid
       fines for a specified timeframe may be recovered
       through the courts of this state; providing an
       effective date.
        
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

       Section 1.âSubsection (2) of section 45.031, Florida
Statutes, is amended to read:
       45.031âJudicial sales procedure.âIn any sale of real or
personal property under an order or judgment, the procedures
provided in this section and ss. 45.0315-45.035 may be followed
as an alternative to any other sale procedure if so ordered by
the court.
       (2)âPUBLICATION OF SALE.âNotice of sale shall be published
on a publicly accessible website as provided in s. 50.0311 for
at least 2 consecutive weeks before the sale or once a week for
2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation, as
provided in chapter 50, published in the county where the sale
is to be held. The second publication by newspaper shall be at
least 5 days before the sale. The notice shall contain:
       (a)âA description of the property to be sold.
       (b)âThe time and place of sale.
       (c)âA statement that the sale will be made pursuant to the
order or final judgment.
       (d)âThe caption of the action.
       (e)âThe name of the clerk making the sale.
       (f)âA statement that any person claiming an interest in the
surplus from the sale, if any, other than the property owner as
of the date of the lis pendens must file a claim before the
clerk reports the surplus as unclaimed.

The court, in its discretion, may enlarge the time of the sale.
Notice of the changed time of sale shall be published as
provided herein.
       Section 2.âSection 50.0311, Florida Statutes, is amended to
read:
       50.0311âPublication of governmental agency advertisements
and public notices on a publicly accessible website and
governmental access channels.â
       (1)âFor purposes of this chapter, the term âgovernmental
agencyâ means a county, municipality, school board, or other
unit of local government or political subdivision in this state.
       (2)âFor purposes of notices and advertisements required
under s. 50.011, the term âpublicly accessible websiteâ means a
countyâs official website or other private website designated by
the county for the publication of legal notices and
advertisements that is accessible via the Internet. All
advertisements and public notices published on a website as
provided in this chapter must be in searchable form and indicate
the date on which the advertisement or public notice was first
published on the website.
       (3)âA governmental agency may use the publicly accessible
website of the county in which it lies to publish legally
required advertisements and public notices if the cost of
publishing advertisements and public notices on such website is
less than the cost of publishing advertisements and public
notices in a newspaper, and the cost for publication is not to
be paid by or recovered from a person.
       (4)âA governmental agency with at least 75 percent of its
population located within a county with a population of fewer
than 160,000 may use a publicly accessible website to publish
legally required advertisements and public notices only if the
governing body of the governmental agency, at a public hearing
that has been noticed in a newspaper as provided in this
chapter, determines that the residents of the governmental
agency have sufficient access to the Internet by broadband
service, as defined in s. 364.02, or by any other means, such
that publishing advertisements and public notices on a publicly
accessible website will not unreasonably restrict public access.
       (5)âA special district spanning the geographic boundaries
of more than one county that satisfies the criteria for
publishing and chooses to publish legally required
advertisements and public notices on a publicly accessible
website must publish such advertisements and public notices on
the publicly accessible website of each county it spans. For
purposes of this subsection, the term âspecial districtâ has the
same meaning as in s. 189.012.
       (6)âA governmental agency that uses a publicly accessible
website to publish legally required advertisements and public
notices shall provide notice at least once per year in a
newspaper of general circulation or another publication that is
mailed or delivered to all residents and property owners
throughout the governmentâs jurisdiction, indicating that
property owners and residents may receive legally required
advertisements and public notices from the governmental agency
by first-class mail or e-mail upon registering their name and
address or e-mail address with the governmental agency. The
governmental agency shall maintain a registry of names,
addresses, and e-mail addresses of property owners and residents
who have requested in writing that they receive legally required
advertisements and public notices from the governmental agency
by first-class mail or e-mail.
       (7)âA link to advertisements and public notices published
on a publicly accessible website shall be conspicuously placed:
       (a)âOn the websiteâs homepage or on a page accessible
through a direct link from the homepage.
       (b)âOn the homepage of the website of each governmental
agency publishing notices on the publicly accessible website or
on a page accessible through a direct link from the homepage.
       (8)âA governmental agency that has a governmental access
channel authorized under s. 610.109 may also include on its
governmental access channel a summary of all advertisements and
public notices that are published on a publicly accessible
website.
       (9)âA public bid advertisement made by a governmental
agency on a publicly accessible website must include a method to
accept electronic bids.
       Section 3.âSection 286.31, Florida Statutes, is created to
read:
       286.31âBlogger registration and reporting.â
       (1)âAs used in this section, the term:
       (a)ââBlogâ means a website or webpage that hosts any
blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or
business content. The term does not include the website of a
newspaper or other similar publication.
       (b)ââBloggerâ means any person as defined in s. 1.01(3)
that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently
published.
       (c)ââBlog postâ is an individual webpage on a blog which
contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.
       (d)ââCompensationâ includes anything of value provided to a
blogger in exchange for a blog post or series of blog posts. If
not provided in currency, it must be the fair-market value of
the item or service exchanged.
       (e)ââElected state officerâ means the Governor, the
Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the
Legislature.
       (f)ââOfficeâ means, in the context of a blog post about a
member of the Legislature, the Office of Legislative Services
or, in the context of a blog post about a member of the
executive branch, the Commission on Ethics, as applicable.
       (2)âIf a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state
officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that
post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as
identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first
post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.
       (3)(a)âUpon registering with the appropriate office, a
blogger must file monthly reports on the 10th day following the
end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to
the blog, except that, if the 10th day following the end of a
calendar month occurs on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday,
the report must be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday,
Sunday, or legal holiday.
       (b)âIf the blogger does not have a blog post on a blog
during a given month, the monthly report for that month does not
need to be filed.
       (c)âThe blogger must file reports with the appropriate
office using the electronic filing system:
       1.âAs provided in s. 11.0455 if the blog post concerns an
elected member of the Legislature; or
       2.âAs provided in s. 112.32155 if the blog post concerns an
officer of the executive branch.
       (d)âThe reports must include all of the following:
       1.âThe individual or entity that compensated the blogger
for the blog post.
       2.âThe amount of compensation received from the individual
or entity, regardless of how the compensation was structured.
       a.âThe amount must be rounded to the nearest $10 increment.
       b.âIf the compensation is for a series of blog posts or for
a defined period of time, the blogger must disclose the total
amount to be received upon the first blog post being published.
Thereafter, the blogger must disclose the date or dates
additional compensation is received, if any, for the series of
blog posts.
       3.âThe date the blog post was published. If the blog post
is part of a series, the date each blog post is published must
be included in the applicable report.
       4.âThe website and website address where the blog post can
be found.
       (4)âNotwithstanding any other law, a magistrate is
authorized to enter a final order in determination of the
reasonableness of circumstances for an untimely filing of a
required report and the amount of a fine, if any.
       (5)âEach house of the Legislature and the Commission on
Ethics shall adopt by rule, for application to bloggers, the
same procedure by which lobbyists are notified of the failure to
timely file a report and the amount of the assessed fines. The
rule must also provide for, but need not be limited to, the
following provisions:
       (a)âA fine of $25 per day per report for each day late, not
to exceed $2,500 per report.
       (b)âUpon receipt of an untimely filed report, the amount of
the fine must be based upon the earlier of the following:
       1.âThe date and time that the untimely report is actually
received by the office.
       2.âThe date and time on the electronic receipt issued
pursuant to s. 11.0455 or s. 112.32155.
       (c)âThe fine must be paid within 30 days after the notice
of payment due is transmitted, unless an appeal is filed with
the office. The fine amount must be deposited into:
       1.âIf the report in question relates to a post about a
member of the Legislature, the Legislative Lobbyist Registration
Trust Fund;
       2.âIf the report in question relates to a post about a
member of the executive branch, the Executive Branch Lobby
Registration Trust Fund; or
       3.âIf the report in question relates to a post about
members of both the Legislature and the executive branch, the
lobbyist registration trust funds identified in subparagraphs 1.
and 2., in equal amounts.
       (d)âA fine may not be assessed against a blogger the first
time a report for which the blogger is responsible is not timely
filed. However, to receive this one-time fine waiver, all
untimely filed reports for which the blogger remains responsible
for filing must be filed with the office within 30 days after
the notice of untimely filing was transmitted to the blogger. A
fine must be assessed for any subsequent late-filed reports.
       (e)âThe blogger is entitled to appeal a fine, based upon
reasonable circumstances surrounding the failure to file by the
designated date, by making a written request to the office for a
hearing before the magistrate from the Second Judicial Circuit.
Any such request must be made within 30 days after the notice of
payment due is transmitted to the blogger. The office shall
transmit all such timely, written requests to the chief judge of
the Second Judicial Circuit along with the evidence the office
relied on in assessing the fine. The magistrate, after holding a
hearing, shall render a final order, upholding the fine or
waiving it in full or in part.
       (f)âA blogger may request that the filing of a report be
waived upon good cause shown based on reasonable circumstances.
The request must be filed with the office, which may grant or
deny the request.
       (g)âFines that remain unpaid for a period in excess of 100
days after final determination are eligible for recovery through
the courts of this state.
       Section 4.âThis act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
Statutes affected: 
S 1316 Filed: 45.031, 50.0311