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To amend sections 7.12 and 5721.01 and to enact | 1 |
sections 7.16, 125.181, 125.182, 125.183, and | 2 |
5721.012 of the Revised Code to establish the | 3 |
State-Sanctioned Public Notice web site, to | 4 |
permit any notice required to be published by | 5 |
statute or rule to be published on the web site, | 6 |
and to make changes to the qualifications for | 7 |
newspapers publishing public notices and the | 8 |
methods by which newspapers publish notice. | 9 |
Section 1. That sections 7.12 and 5721.01 be amended and | 10 |
sections 7.16, 125.181, 125.182, 125.183, and 5721.012 of the | 11 |
Revised Code be enacted to read as follows: | 12 |
Sec. 7.12. Whenever any legal publication is required by law | 13 |
to be made in a newspaper published in a municipal corporation, | 14 |
county, or other political subdivision, the newspaper shall also | 15 |
be a newspaper of general circulation in the municipal | 16 |
corporation, county, or other political subdivision, without | 17 |
further restriction or limitation upon a selection of the | 18 |
newspaper to be used. If no newspaper is published in such | 19 |
municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision, | 20 |
such legal publication shall be made in any newspaper of general | 21 |
circulation therein. If there are less than two newspapers | 22 |
published in any municipal corporation, county, or other political | 23 |
subdivision in the manner defined by this section, then any legal | 24 |
publication required by law to be made in a newspaper published in | 25 |
a municipal corporation, county, or other political subdivision | 26 |
may be made in any newspaper regularly issued at stated intervals | 27 |
from a known office of publication located within the municipal | 28 |
corporation, county, or other political subdivision. As used in | 29 |
this section, a known office of publication is a public office | 30 |
where the business of the newspaper is transacted during the usual | 31 |
business hours, and such office shall be shown by the publication | 32 |
itself. | 33 |
In addition to all other requirements, a newspaper or | 34 |
newspaper of general circulation, except those publications | 35 |
performing the functions described in section 2701.09 of the | 36 |
Revised Code for a period of one year immediately preceding any | 37 |
such publication required to be made, shall be a publication | 38 |
bearing a title or name, regularly issued as frequently as once a | 39 |
week | 40 |
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published continuously during the immediately preceding one-year | 43 |
period, and circulated generally in the political subdivision in | 44 |
which it is published. Such publication must be of a type to which | 45 |
the general public resorts for passing events of a political, | 46 |
religious, commercial, and social nature, current happenings, | 47 |
announcements, miscellaneous reading matter, advertisements, and | 48 |
other notices, that has at least twenty-five per cent editorial, | 49 |
nonadvertising content, exclusive of inserts, measured relative to | 50 |
total publication space, and an audited circulation to at least | 51 |
fifty per cent of the households in the newspaper's retail trade | 52 |
zone as defined by the audit. | 53 |
Any notice required to be published in a newspaper of general | 54 |
circulation may appear on an insert placed in such a newspaper. A | 55 |
responsible party who is required to publish such a notice shall | 56 |
consider various advertising media to determine which media might | 57 |
reach the intended public most broadly. The responsible party need | 58 |
publish the notice in only one qualified medium to meet the | 59 |
requirements of law. | 60 |
Sec. 7.16. A notice required to be published by a provision | 61 |
of a statute or rule may be published on the state-sanctioned | 62 |
public notice web site. A responsible party who is required to | 63 |
publish such a notice may submit a copy of the notice and a | 64 |
request for publication to the state-sanctioned public notice web | 65 |
site service provider, together with the fee charged. The | 66 |
responsible party shall identify in the notice or request the | 67 |
provision of the statute or rule that requires the notice to be | 68 |
published. The responsible party may, but is not required to, | 69 |
prepare the request on the form that can be downloaded from the | 70 |
web site. The notice permitted under this section is cumulative | 71 |
with other notice provisions under statute or rule. | 72 |
Sec. 125.181. The state-sanctioned public notice web site | 73 |
service provider shall publish on the state-sanctioned public | 74 |
notice web site a notice that is submitted to the service provider | 75 |
and that is required to be published by a provision of a statute | 76 |
or rule. The service provider shall collect from the responsible | 77 |
party submitting the notice a fee for posting the notice on the | 78 |
state-sanctioned public notice web site. | 79 |
The service provider shall set the fee, not to exceed ten | 80 |
dollars. The fee initially set may not thereafter be increased | 81 |
until two years have elapsed. The service provider shall publish | 82 |
the amount of the fee on the web site. | 83 |
Sec. 125.182. The office of information technology shall | 84 |
select a web site service provider to establish, operate, and | 85 |
maintain, and to fund the operation, establishment, and | 86 |
maintenance of, the state-sanctioned public notice web site. The | 87 |
provider shall have all the following qualifications: | 88 |
(A) Possesses appropriate hardware infrastructure and | 89 |
intellectual property for feasible processes deploying a | 90 |
state-sanctioned and national web site with appropriate methods | 91 |
for communicating with the courts of this state; | 92 |
(B) Possesses sufficient minimal capital resources to | 93 |
establish and ensure smooth and uninterrupted ongoing operation of | 94 |
the state-sanctioned public notice web site; | 95 |
(C) Provides a reasonable plan for implementing the | 96 |
state-sanctioned public notice web site so that notices required | 97 |
to be published by a statute or rule may be posted and published | 98 |
on the state-sanctioned public notice web site with reasonable | 99 |
ease; | 100 |
(D) Demonstrates, and is capable of implementing, the | 101 |
technology necessary for the state-sanctioned public notice web | 102 |
site at no cost to the state; | 103 |
(E) Employs personnel, in number and by qualification, who | 104 |
are necessary to ensure smooth transmission of data to and the | 105 |
posting and publication of notices on the state-sanctioned public | 106 |
notice web site; | 107 |
(F) Posts a bond in an amount to be determined by the office | 108 |
of information technology that is sufficient to guarantee | 109 |
operation of the state-sanctioned public notice web site as the | 110 |
public interest requires. | 111 |
The service provider shall bear the costs of establishing, | 112 |
operating, and maintaining the state-sanctioned public notice web | 113 |
site. The state neither has nor may assume liability for those | 114 |
costs. | 115 |
Sec. 125.183. In establishing, maintaining, and operating the | 116 |
state-sanctioned public notice web site, the web site service | 117 |
provider shall do all of the following: | 118 |
(A) Use a domain name for the web site that will be easily | 119 |
recognizable and remembered by and understandable to users of the | 120 |
web site; | 121 |
(B) Maintain the web site so that it is fully accessible to | 122 |
and searchable by members of the public at all times; | 123 |
(C) Not charge a fee to a person who accesses, searches, or | 124 |
otherwise uses the web site; | 125 |
(D) Ensure that notices displayed on the web site conform to | 126 |
the requirements that would apply to the notices as if they were | 127 |
being published in a newspaper or other publication, as directed | 128 |
in the relevant provision of the statute or rule; | 129 |
(E) Ensure that notices continue to be displayed on the web | 130 |
site for not less than the length of time required by the relevant | 131 |
provision of the statute or rule; | 132 |
(F) Devise and display on the web site a form that may be | 133 |
downloaded and used to request publication of a notice on the web | 134 |
site; | 135 |
(G) Charge responsible parties submitting notices for | 136 |
publication on the web site only the fee fixed by the service | 137 |
provider; | 138 |
(H) Enable responsible parties to submit notices and requests | 139 |
for their publication and to pay the fee charged therefor on-line; | 140 |
(I) Maintain an archive of notices that no longer are | 141 |
displayed on the web site; | 142 |
(J) Enable notices, both those currently displayed and those | 143 |
archived, to be accessed by key word, by party name, by case | 144 |
number, by county, and by other useful identifiers; | 145 |
(K) Maintain adequate systemic security and backup features, | 146 |
and develop and maintain a contingency plan for coping with and | 147 |
recovering from power outages, systemic failures, and other | 148 |
unforeseeable difficulties; | 149 |
(L) Maintain the web site in such a manner that it will not | 150 |
infringe legally protected interests, so that vulnerability of the | 151 |
web site to interruption because of litigation or the threat of | 152 |
litigation is reduced; | 153 |
(M) Submit a status report to the secretary of state twice | 154 |
annually that demonstrates compliance with the statutory | 155 |
requirements governing publication of notices; | 156 |
(N) Submit to a quality review, if the director of the office | 157 |
of information technology requests. | 158 |
The service provider shall bear the expense of maintaining | 159 |
the state-sanctioned public notice web site domain name. | 160 |
In the course of a quality review, the director of the office | 161 |
of information technology is entitled to, and the service provider | 162 |
shall provide, full access to the hardware and software used by, | 163 |
and the technical and informational operations of, the service | 164 |
provider that relate to operation and maintenance of the | 165 |
state-sanctioned public notice web site. | 166 |
Sec. 5721.01. (A) As used in this chapter: | 167 |
(1) "Delinquent lands" means all lands upon which delinquent | 168 |
taxes, as defined in section 323.01 of the Revised Code, remain | 169 |
unpaid at the time a settlement is made between the county | 170 |
treasurer and auditor pursuant to division (C) of section 321.24 | 171 |
of the Revised Code. | 172 |
(2) "Delinquent vacant lands" means all lands that have been | 173 |
delinquent lands for at least two years and that are unimproved by | 174 |
any dwelling. | 175 |
(B) As used in sections 5719.04, 5721.03, and 5721.31 of the | 176 |
Revised Code and in any other sections of the Revised Code to | 177 |
which those sections are applicable, a newspaper or newspaper of | 178 |
general circulation shall be a publication bearing a title or | 179 |
name,
regularly issued as frequently as once a week | 180 |
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during the immediately preceding one-year period, and circulated | 184 |
generally in the political subdivision in which it is published. | 185 |
Such publication shall be of a type to which the general public | 186 |
resorts for passing events of a political, religious, commercial, | 187 |
and social nature, current happenings, announcements, | 188 |
miscellaneous reading matter, advertisements, and other notices, | 189 |
that has at least twenty-five per cent editorial, nonadvertising | 190 |
content, exclusive of inserts, measured relative to total | 191 |
publication space, and an audited circulation to at least fifty | 192 |
per cent of the households in the newspaper's retail trade zone as | 193 |
defined by the audit. | 194 |
Sec. 5721.012. Any notice required to be published in a | 195 |
newspaper or newspaper of general circulation as defined in | 196 |
section 5721.01 of the Revised Code may appear on an insert placed | 197 |
in such a newspaper. A responsible party who is required to | 198 |
publish such a notice shall consider various advertising media to | 199 |
determine which media might reach the intended public most | 200 |
broadly. The responsible party need publish the notice in only one | 201 |
qualified medium to meet the requirements of law. | 202 |
Section 2. That existing sections 7.12 and 5721.01 of the | 203 |
Revised Code are hereby repealed. | 204 |