Brewster Bevis

The Internet continues to become more ubiquitous and many Floridians’ go-to source for news and information. The Florida Legislature even recognized this years ago when they mandated that newspapers not only print public notices in their newspapers, but also post it on their websites AND aggregate ALL public notices in one single location online, FloridaPublicNotices.com.

Yet, the fact remains that 6.8 million Floridians read printed newspapers each week and removing public notice from newspapers or allowing them to be printed in free newspapers (for a fee) would effectively remove the robust requirement for public notice that has made Florida the gold standard for decades.

While we certainly recognize that having public notice on the Internet is a critical component, today’s combination of print and online dissemination offered now by Florida’s newspapers casts the widest possible net, informing more Floridians than an Internet-only option could.

Moreover, we also have to recognize the Internet comes with its own set of challenges.

The legislature, right now, is even seeking to make the Internet more transparent and grant equal access to everyone, freeing the system of interference from algorithms, which is right and appropriate because it’s in the public’s best interest.

But today’s Internet is still ripe for abuse. The fact is, there are innumerable — into the billions — of websites across the Internet. There are even hundreds of different search engines. And each of these have their own, unknown to us, algorithms.

The Internet is just not transparent, it’s not reliable, it’s unregulated and it’s inconsistent.

If we move public notices to today’s Internet-only with all of its problems, this patchwork will only harm businesses across the state, as well as all Floridians who would lose access to the information contained in public notices.

Additionally, lawmakers appear to be trying to solve for this Internet-only issue by allowing for the publication of public notice in free newspapers. And while the newspaper may be free, the placement of the notice will still carry a fee — negating any attempt to save governmental agencies money through this legislation.

And allowing for free newspapers still creates a patchwork of different regulation, replacing today’s requirements and negatively impacting access to critical information. Besides, the fact is free newspapers simply don’t have the ability to compete the way community newspapers do, and your local non-news/shopper type publication just doesn’t have the reach to communicate this critical information to businesses and Floridians.

We’re asking the legislature to guard the best interest of constituents. Keep public notice in a format that Floridians can choose how to consume it — whether it’s in their printed community newspaper, on that newspaper’s website or on FloridaPublicNotices.com — rather than the government dictating how it’s consumed.

Otherwise, businesses and people will undoubtedly lose their personal property and never find information impactful to them.

Don’t send Floridians to the depths of the Internet blackhole to play a game of digital scavenger hunt. We urge our elected officials to vote no on House Bill 35 and Senate Bill 402.

Brewster Bevis, is the senior vice president of State and National Affairs, Associated Industries of Florida.