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H0518......................................................by STATE AFFAIRS
LEGAL NOTICES - Amends existing law relating to legal notices to revise
provisions applicable to the qualifications of newspapers for the purposes
of printing legal notices.
01/31 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/01 Rpt prt - to St Aff
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]]
Fifty-eighth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2006
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 518
BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO NEWSPAPERS; AMENDING SECTION 60-106, IDAHO CODE, TO REVISE PROVI-
3 SIONS APPLICABLE TO THE QUALIFICATIONS OF NEWSPAPERS FOR PURPOSES OF
4 PRINTING LEGAL NOTICES; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
6 SECTION 1. That Section 60-106, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
7 amended to read as follows:
8 60-106. QUALIFICATIONS OF NEWSPAPERS PRINTING LEGAL NOTICES. (1) No legal
9 notice, advertisement or publication of any kind required or provided by the
10 laws of the state of Idaho, to be published in a newspaper, shall be published
11 or have any force or effect, as such, unless:
12 (a) Tthe same be published in a newspaper of general interest published
13 in the state of Idaho,; and
14 (b) Wwhich newspaper if published weekly, has been continuously and unin-
15 terruptedly published in the county during a period of seventy-eight (78)
16 consecutive weeks prior to the first publication of the notice, or adver-
17 tisement, and, if published daily, has been so published as a daily news-
18 paper in the county during a period of twelve (12) consecutive months
19 prior to the first publication of the notice or advertisement; provided
20 that,.
21 (2) The term "newspaper" as used in this section shall apply only to such
22 newspapers of general interest that:
23 (a) Are made up of at least four (4) pages of at least five (5) columns
24 each, printed from type matter or from "slugs" cast upon the linotype or
25 intertype or similar "slug-casting" machine, or by the process known as
26 "offset," or stereotyped forms of at least seventeen and three-fourths
27 (17 3/4) inches depth or if smaller pages, then comprising an equivalent
28 amount of type matter;
29 (b) Have at least two hundred (200) bona fide subscribers living within
30 the county in which the newspaper is published at regular intervals and,
31 in no case, less frequently than once a week; and
32 (c) Are not produced by the process known as mimeographing or similar
33 methods.
34 (3) Nnotwithstanding any other provision of Idaho laws, the term
35 "newspaper of (or having) general circulation," wherever used in Idaho Code as
36 a qualification of newspapers required to be used for the publication of
37 notice, shall mean a "newspaper," as defined in this section,:
38 (a) Tthat is published within the boundaries of the governmental entity
39 wherein the notice is required to be published and which newspaper has the
40 largest paid circulation among all newspapers published in that governmen-
41 tal entity as verified by the sworn statement of average total paid or
42 requested circulation for the preceding twelve (12) months that was filed
43 on the annual statement of ownership, management and circulation with the
2
1 U.S. postal service on the date immediately preceding the date of the
2 required publication of notice; excepting that, a numerically substantial
3 and geographically widespread circulation to bona fide paying subscribers
4 that is sufficient to give basis for a reasonable belief that publication
5 of a legal notice in the newspaper will give effective notice to persons
6 who may have an interest in, or be affected by, the legal notice. In no
7 event shall the term "newspaper of (or having) general circulation" be
8 interpreted to require that legal notices be published in a newspaper hav-
9 ing the largest circulation unless the statute or court order requiring
10 such publication of notice specifically provides otherwise; or
11 (b) Wwhere no newspaper is published within the governmental entity
12 required to publish a notice, the term "newspaper of (or having) general
13 circulation" shall mean the a newspaper with the largest paid circulation
14 published within any county in which the governmental entity is located,
15 or the newspaper published nearest to the boundaries of the governmental
16 entity; provided, that, which newspaper has a numerically substantial and
17 geographically widespread circulation to bona fide paying subscribers that
18 is sufficient to give basis for a reasonable belief that publication of a
19 legal notice in the newspaper will give effective notice to persons who
20 may have an interest in, or be affected by, the legal notice. In no event
21 shall the term "newspaper of (or having) general circulation" be inter-
22 preted to require that legal notices be published in a newspaper having
23 the largest circulation unless the statute or court order requiring such
24 publication of notice specifically provides otherwise.
25 (4) Nnothing in this chapter shall invalidate the publication of such
26 notice or advertisement in any newspaper which has simply changed its name,
27 frequency of publication, suspended publication because of an act of God, or
28 public enemy, fire, strike, or other labor dispute, explosion, flood, govern-
29 ment prohibition, government requisition of essential property, preferential
30 government orders, breakdown, legal acts of public authorities or other acts
31 beyond the control of the publisher for a period of not to exceed six (6)
32 months, or changed the place of publication from one part of the county to
33 another part thereof, without breaking the continuity of its regular issues
34 for the required length of time: and, provided further, that this chapter
35 shall not apply to counties in which no newspaper has been published for the
36 required length of time.: provided the term "Newspaper" as used in this sec-
37 tion shall apply only to such newspapers of general interest made up of at
38 least four (4) pages of at least five (5) columns each, printed from type mat-
39 ter or from "slugs" cast upon the linotype or intertype or similar
40 "slug-casting" machine, or by the process known as "offset," or stereotyped
41 forms of at least seventeen and three-fourths (17 3/4) inches depth; or, if
42 smaller pages, then comprising an equivalent amount of type matter, and which
43 shall have at least two hundred (200) bona fide subscribers living within the
44 county in which the newspaper is published at regular intervals and, in no
45 case, less frequently than once a week; provided that a newspaper produced by
46 the process known as mimeographing or similar methods shall not be deemed a
47 legal newspaper for publications of any kind. And provided further, that
48 (5) Aany duly qualified newspaper, as hereinbefore defined, shall not
49 forfeit its standing as such by reason of the fact that it has suspended pub-
50 lication for all or any part of the period during which the United States has
51 been or shall be engaged in the prosecution of any war, or for one (1) year
52 following the date of the proclamation of the President of the United States
53 declaring that this nation is no longer at war, or the termination of a state
54 of war shall be otherwise established. And if any such newspaper shall resume
55 regular publication within one (1) year from the date when the termination of
3
1 the state of war shall be so established, it shall then be as fully qualified
2 to publish any legal notice, advertisement, or publication required to be pub-
3 lished by the laws of the state of Idaho, as if such newspaper had not sus-
4 pended regular publication during the above mentioned period of time.
5 (6) No newspaper shall qualify under this section unless the same shall
6 hold a valid second class mailing permit from the United States Post Office.
7 Any violations of the previous requirements of this section concerning print-
8 ing of newspapers other than in the governmental entity in which a notice or
9 advertisement is required to be printed are hereby excused and any advertise-
10 ment published in any such newspapers is hereby validated.
11 SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby
12 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its
13 passage and approval.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 15792
The proposal amends section 60-106, Idaho Code, relating to the
qualification of newspapers to print legal notices. Many Idaho
state statutes providing for the publication of legal notices by
governmental entities or with reference to legal proceedings by
private parties provide for publication of notice in newspapers
of (or having) general circulation. In 1994, at the request of
some newspapers in the state, the statute was amended to provide
that the quoted phrase meant, with reference to publications by
governmental entities, that the newspaper must be the newspaper
having the largest circulation in the governmental entity causing
the publication to be made. It is believed that Idaho and
Kentucky are the only states having such a requirement.
Legislative history of the 1994 amendment indicates that the
requirement was intended to apply only to government entities,
not private legal notices. However, clarification of this issue
is needed.
The purpose of this legislation is: (1) To remove any ambiguity as
to private legal notices and to redefine the qualification of the
newspaper to publish legal notices to mean that the newspaper, in
addition to other qualifications, must have a numerically
substantial and geographically widespread circulation sufficient to
provide a basis for a reasonable belief that the publication will
give effective notice to persons who may have an interest in or be
affected by the legal notice; and, (2) remove the requirement that
the notice be published in the newspaper having the largest
circulation unless the statute or a court order requiring
publication of the notice specifically provides that the notice
must be published in the newspaper with the largest circulation.
FISCAL NOTE
There is no fiscal impact on state or local funds as a result of
this legislation.
Contact
Name: Rep. Tom Trail
Phone: (208) 332-1000
Name: Bill Roden, On behalf of Idaho Business Review
Phone: (208-336-7930
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 518