BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1902
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Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
AB 1902 (Jones) - As Introduced: February 22, 2012
SUBJECT : Publication: newspapers of general circulation.
SUMMARY : Provides that a newspaper available on an Internet Web
site may qualify as a newspaper of general circulation if it
meets certain criteria. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that, notwithstanding any other law, a newspaper that
is available on an Internet Web site is a "newspaper of
general circulation" if it meets all of the following
criteria:
a) It provides local, national, or international news and
intelligence of a general character on its Internet Web
site.
b) It has been established and updated at regular intervals
of not less than weekly for at least three years prior to
the date of adjudication.
c) It has a substantial regular readership in the city,
district, or judicial district in which the newspaper is
seeking adjudication pursuant to subdivision (b).
d) It has a bona fide list of subscribers that reside in
the city, district, or judicial district in which the
newspaper is seeking adjudication pursuant to subdivision
(b).
e) It has maintained a minimum coverage of local, national,
or international news and intelligence of a general
character on at least 25% of the space available on the
homepage of the Internet Web site of the newspaper.
f) It provides a link to public notices published in the
newspaper on the homepage of the Internet Web site of the
newspaper that is readily accessible to any person visiting
that Internet Web site.
2)Provides that a newspaper desiring to have its standing as a
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newspaper of general circulation ascertained and established,
may, by its publisher, manager, editor, or attorney, file a
verified petition in the superior court of the county in which
it is established.
3)Defines "established" to mean "in existence under a specified
name during the whole three-year period, provided that a
modification of name in accordance with Section 6024, which
does not substantially change the identity of the newspaper,
shall not affect the status of the newspaper for the purposes
of this definition."
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires that various types of notices be published in a
newspaper of general circulation.
2)Defines a "newspaper of general circulation" as a "newspaper
published for the dissemination of local or telegraphic news
and intelligence of a general character, which has a bona fide
subscription list of paying subscribers, and has been
established, printed and published
at regular intervals in the State, county, or city where
publication, notice by publication, or official advertising is
to be given or made for at least one year preceding the date
of the publication, notice or advertisement."
3)Requires a newspaper of general circulation to meet certain
criteria, including, among others, that it be published and
have a substantial distribution to paid subscribers in the
city, district, or judicial district in which it is seeking
adjudication.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS :
1)This bill aims to create standards to permit Internet-based
newspapers to become adjudicated as "newspapers of general
publication" eligible to serve as paid instruments of public
announcement for certain legally required notices. This bill
is sponsored by East County Magazine, an online periodical
based in San Diego County.
2)Newspapers of general circulation are used to notice a wide
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variety of legal matters, including the registration of
fictitious business names, probate hearings, court filings,
proposed local initiative ballot titles and summaries, tax
default notices, and many other statutory requirements. The
purpose of limiting publication to newspapers meeting general
publication standards is to ensure that published materials
come to the attention of substantial numbers of persons in the
relevant area.
Newspapers desiring to be adjudicated as papers of general
circulation must file a verified petition in the superior
court of the county in which it is established, printed and
published proving that they meet specified requirements.
Newspapers are generally adjudicated by county, although they
can also be adjudicated by city, district, or judicial
district. Lists of adjudicated newspapers are often kept by
local superior courts.
In order to be adjudicated, newspapers have two different sets
of criteria that they may look to. They must prove to be a
newspaper "published for the dissemination of local or
telegraphic news and intelligence of a general character,
which has a bona fide subscription list of paying
subscribers," and
a) "has been established, printed and published at regular
intervals in the State, county, or city where publication,
notice by publication, or official advertising is to be
given or made for at least one year preceding the date of
the publication, notice or advertisement"; or
b) "has been established and published at regular intervals
of not less than weekly in the city, district, or judicial
district for which it is seeking adjudication for at least
three years preceding the date of adjudication." It must
have "a substantial distribution to paid subscribers in the
city, district, or judicial district in which it is seeking
adjudication." It must have "maintained a minimum coverage
of local or telegraphic news and intelligence of a general
character of not less than 25 percent of its total inches
during each year of the three-year period." Finally, it
must have "only one principal office of publication and
that office is in the city, district, or judicial district
for which it is seeking adjudication."
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The main distinction between the two sets of criteria is that
under a), the newspaper must be printed in the jurisdiction
for at least one year prior to adjudication, whereas b) has no
'printed' requirement, but it does instead require weekly
publication for three years prior, as well as substantial
distribution, minimum coverage requirements, and a principle
office of publication in the jurisdiction. This second set of
criteria allows for adjudication even when the newspaper is no
longer physically printed in the jurisdiction.
1)The language of AB 1902 is patterned after Government Code
Section 6008, but with some significant differences.
According to opponent The Glendale News-Press, there are a
number of issues with the provisions of this bill:
a) The website must be "updated" at regular intervals, not
less than weekly, and for at least three years prior to
publication. Opponents argue that the meaning of the term
"update" is vague, and that insubstantial changes could be
made to the same content but still be considered an update.
b) The bill does not require of web-based newspapers any
kind of physical presence in the jurisdiction, while
current law requires newspapers to have a principal office
of publication in the jurisdiction, if not a physical
printing press. While it is an obvious benefit of running
a web-based newspaper to not necessarily require a physical
office, opponents argue that the lack of such a requirement
means that such a newspaper is less grounded in and
responsive to the community.
c) The website must have a "substantial regular
readership", but its distribution need not be paid, as with
printed newspapers. Opponents argue that the decades-old
requirement of paid readership is a better measure of
engagement than unpaid distribution (i.e., if you are
paying for it, you are more likely to read it).
d) The bill requires that a minimum of 25% of homepage
space be dedicated to news, but opponents point out that
the space on the homepage may represent only a fraction of
the total space on the website (which could be filled with
ads). By comparison, a printed newspaper must have at
least 25% of its total content dedicated to general news.
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Furthermore, while the meaning of the terms "substantial" (how
many? in what population?) and "readership" (page views?
subscriptions?) are arguably vague (as are other terms in this
bill), they would likely need to be argued before a court
hearing the adjudication request, in much the same way as the
similarly vague provisions for printed newspapers. Courts
would likely draw upon established case law related to printed
publications for guidance, but the precise meaning of many of
these terms would still need to be judicially defined in the
absence of more specific statutory language.
The Committee may wish to consider whether or not certain
terms of this bill could be made more specific, based in large
part on the guidance of existing case law.
2)One relevant question is whether or not individuals in the
community derive sufficient useful notice from the printed
notices now required by law to justify the expense of
physically publishing them. That question is also part of a
larger debate about the relative value to Californians of
printed and online news sources.
According to the sponsor, "MSNBC reported in March 2011 that the
majority of Americans now acquire more of their news on the
Internet than from print newspapers, based on the latest Pew
Research?�T]he study found that people are spending 'more time
with news than ever before' but that the digital media sector
is the only one experiencing audience growth. In addition,
47% of Americans now access news on mobile devices such as
iPADS and cellphones. In December 2010, 41% said the Internet
is where they received 'most of their news' on major issues,
up 17% from 2009."
The sponsor also contends that certain rural communities rely
more heavily on online news sources than one might expect:
"Many residents in rural, desert and mountain communities
appreciate online media that covers their issues when nobody
else does. Often, I've been the ONLY journalist to show up at
public meetings in these towns on issues that will impact
their communities, such as proposed power plants, zoning
changes, development projects, and much more. The publication
I edit has testimonials from community leaders across East
County who are grateful for the excellent news coverage
provided."
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According to opponents, however, newspapers are still heavily
relied upon by Americans: more than 71% of U.S. adults, or
nearly 166 million people, read a newspaper in print or online
in the past week. Only 62% of adult Americans had broadband
Internet connections at home, according to a 2011 Pew report.
As such, they argue, printed newspapers remain the most read,
most reliable place to read and establish legal proof of
public notices.
Opponents also cite a 2001 survey by the Arizona Newspapers
Association that found strong levels of support in Arizona for
newspaper-based public notices:
a) 82% of individuals surveyed regularly or sometimes read
or looked at legal notices in newspapers while 87% never
looked at legal notices on the web;
b) 63% of respondents felt that it was important or very
important to continue publishing legal and public notices
in the newspaper;
c) 58% of respondents felt that newspaper-based public
notices helped make local officials more careful about they
spend taxpayers' money; and,
d) 68% of respondents felt that public agencies should
publish legal and public notices only in newspapers (7%
said notices should be published on the web only and 2%
said both).
The Committee may wish to inquire of supporters and opponents
as to the comparative public reach of both printed and online
newspapers, and how to determine whether or not residents of
rural and less populated areas are being adequately served by
a continued requirement that newspapers of general circulation
remain exclusively in print.
1)On April 11, 2012, this Committee heard AB 1957 (Gordon),
which proposed in part to shorten the notices that tax
collectors are required by statute to publish related to
pending defaults and instead make the bulk of the notice
available online. The bill failed passage on a 2-2 vote.
In 2009, this Committee heard AB 715 (Caballero), which would
have authorized city clerks to publish and post the full text
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of city ordinances on that city's Internet Web site instead of
in a newspaper of general circulation. That bill was passed
by the committee (9-0), and passed on the Assembly floor
(75-0), but was subsequently amended to address an unrelated
issue.
2)Support arguments : According to the sponsor, "This bill would
allow online media outlets that meet reasonable criteria to
publish public notices. The current law was written back in
the era of telegraphs, long before the Internet was invented.
This antiquated law limits public notices to only print
publications?despite the fact that the vast majority of
Americans now get more news online than in print."
Opposition arguments : According to the Glendale News-Press,
"AB 1902 is inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the
existing adjudication scheme. As drafted, �AB 1902] would
allow Internet publications to qualify as newspapers of
general circulation even where they have no established
connection to the relevant community and dedicate only a small
fraction of their content to news and intelligence?Such a
result is inconsistent?and would defy the policy that the
adjudication statutes were enacted to support."
3)This bill is double-referred to the Judiciary Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
East County Magazine/East County Publishing Coalition �SPONSOR]
California Association of Sanitation Agencies
DSD Business Systems
Jacumba-Boulevard Revitalization Alliance
Leadership Management International
Individual letters (14)
Opposition
Bay Area News Group
Brehm Communications
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Newspapers Partnership
Glendale News-Press
Monterey County Weekly
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The Press Enterprise
The Record
The Star-News
Individual letters (2)
Analysis Prepared by : Hank Dempsey / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958