Editor’s Note: Listen to this hearing live at 1:30 p.m. here.
By Don Knox, STATE BILL COLORADO
Certain free-circulation Colorado newspapers would get a small financial boost with a bill under consideration at 1:30 p.m. today before the House State Veterans & Military Affairs Committee.
HB10-1063, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, would allow certain free-distribution newspapers to publish legal notices if paid-circulation “legal publications” didn’t publish within a city’s boundaries. Municipal legal notices satisfy state requirements that cities keep residents informed of spending and other matters; they also provide a steady, albeit small, revenue stream to the publishers.
The issue has arisen in smaller towns and cities where paid-circulation newspaper don’t currently exist or never existed. Newspapers have been under economic stress because of the recent economic downturn and competition from Internet news sites.
Todd chairs the committee that’s hearing HB-10-1063. If it survives the House, it will be carried in the Senate by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, who represents smaller communities in Colorado’s mountains.
The bill as proposed is published below:
