DeSantis Signs Bill Ending Taxpayer “Subsidies” of Newspapers for Meeting Notices

May 12, 2022 Updated 10:25 A.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – A new Florida law allows government agencies to post meeting notices on their websites instead of paying newspapers for advertising space. 

For years, local governments were required to pay newspapers to advertise public meetings and judicial actions. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the new law that supporters said will end “subsidies” of newspapers and will give local governments the ability to post notices on their websites instead. 

“This form of advertisement may have been the best way to notice the public 30 years ago, but with print circulations of newspapers dropping dramatically over the past two decades, such a requirement has become a state mandated subsidy to prop up a dying industry,” said DeSantis’ Deputy Press Secretary Bryan Griffin. 

Prior to the new law, local governments would pay 70 cents per square inch of advertisements. There are Florida counties that do not have adequate internet access. 

The law requires counties of fewer than 160,000 to hold a public meeting to determine whether constituents have sufficient access to the internet.