A bill adjusting fees and publication requirements failed to find favor in the House.

 

House Bill 1050, which changes publication fees and requires notices be posted online, in addition to in print, on a website hosted by SDNA, lost on a 29-41 vote.

 

ASBSD opposed the bill, which had action delayed on it on the House floor as it awaited a fiscal note. The fiscal note came back inconclusive, with the Legislative Research Council writing: “Without a standardized method of accounting for legal notices on the accounting system, an exact fiscal estimate cannot be determined for general, federal, or other funds.”

 

“I’m not sure what the increase is,” Rep. Jon Hansen said. “I know it’s an increase, but I don’t know how much. I don’t want to vote for a bill that’s going to increase those costs.”

 

The bill attempted to make multiple changes:

• Repeals the 10 percent discount school districts previously received in publishing costs;
• Sets the price per column inch at $3.15 for papers with under 9,000 circulation and $6 per column inch for papers with more than 9,000 circulation;
• Makes column width universal at 1.4 inches wide;
• Any paper with under 9,000 circulation will print at 8-point type and papers with more than 9,000 will print at 7-point type;
• Requires newspapers to publish public notices from their paper on to a website hosted by an organization representing a majority of South Dakota newspapers.

The House did amend out the annual index factor for a price increase of two percent or CPI, whichever is less, but it was not enough for HB 1050 to get favor of the majority of Representatives.

 

“Eight of these sections (of the bill) are a fee increase,” Rep. Will Mortenson said in opposition of the bill.

 

For updates from the 2021 legislative session, check the ASBSD Blog and Bill Tracker page.