| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to website notice of foreclosure |
| 3 | action; creating s. 50.015, F.S.; providing that a |
| 4 | legal publication, advertisement, or notice of |
| 5 | foreclosure action may be placed on a publicly |
| 6 | accessible Internet website of a clerk of court in |
| 7 | lieu of publication in any other form of media; |
| 8 | providing criteria for the publicly accessible |
| 9 | Internet website; providing for user access to the |
| 10 | website; providing for access by clerks of court and |
| 11 | chief judges; providing requirements for the website |
| 12 | provider; providing posting requirements; authorizing |
| 13 | the clerk of court to contract with a publicly |
| 14 | accessible Internet website provider; providing for |
| 15 | terms and revenue sharing in the contract; amending s. |
| 16 | 702.035, F.S.; providing for notice of foreclosure |
| 17 | action to be posted on a publicly accessible Internet |
| 18 | website; providing an effective date. |
| 19 |
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| 20 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 21 |
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| 22 | Section 1. Section 50.015, Florida Statutes, is created to |
| 23 | read: |
| 24 | 50.015 Legal publication, advertisement, or notice of |
| 25 | foreclosure action on a publicly accessible Internet website.- |
| 26 | (1) A legal publication, advertisement, or notice of |
| 27 | foreclosure action required by s. 702.035 may be placed on a |
| 28 | publicly accessible website of the clerk of court in lieu of |
| 29 | publication in any other form of media. |
| 30 | (2) For purposes of this section, a publicly accessible |
| 31 | Internet website must: |
| 32 | (a) Be approved for legal publication, advertisement, and |
| 33 | notice by the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation. |
| 34 | (b)1. Maintain a legal publication, advertisement, or |
| 35 | notice of foreclosure action for 90 days following the first day |
| 36 | of posting or for as long as provided in paragraph (6)(b) or |
| 37 | paragraph (6)(c). |
| 38 | 2. Maintain all legal publications, advertisements, or |
| 39 | notice of foreclosure action searchable and accessible to users |
| 40 | for 10 years following the first day of posting. |
| 41 | (c) Receive at least 100,000 total impressions per month, |
| 42 | which must be certified by a recognized Internet search engine. |
| 43 | For the purpose of this paragraph, the term "impression" means |
| 44 | the time at which a notice is viewed once by a visitor on an |
| 45 | Internet web page. |
| 46 | (d) Maintain 24-hour customer support, along with live |
| 47 | electronic communication and telephone support for a minimum of |
| 48 | 12 hours per day during peak-time usage. |
| 49 | (e) Post information other than the legal publication, |
| 50 | advertisement, or notice of foreclosure action in English and |
| 51 | Spanish. |
| 52 | (f) Post online tutorials for users. |
| 53 | (g) Be maintained on a data center that is compliant with |
| 54 | the Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70. The website provider |
| 55 | shall provide a certificate of compliance to each clerk of the |
| 56 | court. |
| 57 | (3)(a) A user may not be required to register with the |
| 58 | website and may not be charged for access to postings of legal |
| 59 | publications, advertisements, or notices of foreclosure actions |
| 60 | which are posted as provided in subparagraph (2)(b)1. |
| 61 | (b) A user may be required to register with the website in |
| 62 | order to access postings of legal publications, advertisements, |
| 63 | or notices of foreclosure actions which are posted as provided |
| 64 | in subparagraph (2)(b)2. Each clerk of court may allow a fee and |
| 65 | determine an amount that the website provider may charge a user |
| 66 | to access postings of legal publications, advertisements, or |
| 67 | notices of foreclosure actions which are posted as provided in |
| 68 | subparagraph (2)(b)2. |
| 69 | (4)(a) Each clerk of court and deputy clerk shall have 24- |
| 70 | hour access at no charge to all records relevant to the legal |
| 71 | publications, advertisements, or notices of foreclosure action |
| 72 | in the county of each clerk of court through a fully secure |
| 73 | portal accessed by a distinct user name and password. |
| 74 | (b) The chief judge of each judicial circuit, and his or |
| 75 | her designee, shall have access at no charge to all documents |
| 76 | published or maintained on the website. |
| 77 | (5) The website provider shall develop and maintain on |
| 78 | file, and provide to the clerk of court and the chief judge of |
| 79 | each judicial circuit, a disaster recovery plan for the website. |
| 80 | (6)(a) The website provider shall publish its affidavits |
| 81 | electronically in substantial conformity with ss. 50.041 and |
| 82 | 50.051, and may use an electronic notary seal. |
| 83 | (b) Legal publication, advertisement, or notice of |
| 84 | foreclosure action shall be posted within 3 business days, |
| 85 | excluding court holidays, after the date for the foreclosure |
| 86 | sale is set, and shall continue for 10 days after the |
| 87 | foreclosure sale or for 90 consecutive days, whichever period is |
| 88 | longer. This paragraph does not affect the requirements for the |
| 89 | manner and time for constructive service by publication provided |
| 90 | by chapter 49 or the manner and time for notices of sale |
| 91 | provided in s. 45.031 if the notice provided in this section |
| 92 | continues for the 90-day period. |
| 93 | (c) If the defendant refuses to accept or evades service |
| 94 | or if the agent serving process is unable to effect service, |
| 95 | legal publication, advertisement, or notice of foreclosure |
| 96 | action shall be posted on the website beginning on the date that |
| 97 | the affidavit of nonservice is recorded and shall continue |
| 98 | through the conclusion of the action or for 90 consecutive days, |
| 99 | whichever period is longer. |
| 100 | (7) The legal publication, advertisement, or notice of |
| 101 | foreclosure action on the website must conform substantially |
| 102 | with the requirements of s. 50.011, unless inconsistent with |
| 103 | this section. |
| 104 | (8) Each clerk of court may contract with a publicly |
| 105 | accessible Internet website provider for legal publication, |
| 106 | advertisement, or notice of foreclosure action as required by s. |
| 107 | 702.035. Fees for publication shall be consistent with s. |
| 108 | 50.061. |
| 109 | (a) The website provider shall provide to the clerk of |
| 110 | court a quarterly accounting of revenue generated. |
| 111 | (b) The website provider shall remit to the clerk of court |
| 112 | 50 percent of all net revenue generated from the publication |
| 113 | fees for legal publication, advertisement, or notice of |
| 114 | foreclosure action. |
| 115 | (c) The website provider shall deposit, by electronic |
| 116 | transfer at no cost to the clerk of court, the clerk of court's |
| 117 | share of the net revenue generated monthly by the 5th day of the |
| 118 | following month. Between each monthly deposit, the revenue shall |
| 119 | be held as provided by the contract between the website provider |
| 120 | and the clerk of court. |
| 121 | Section 2. Section 702.035, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 122 | to read: |
| 123 | 702.035 Legal notice concerning foreclosure proceedings.- |
| 124 | Whenever a legal advertisement, publication, or notice relating |
| 125 | to a foreclosure proceeding is required to be placed in a |
| 126 | newspaper or posted on a publicly accessible Internet website as |
| 127 | provided in s. 50.015, it is the responsibility of the |
| 128 | petitioner or petitioner's attorney to place such advertisement, |
| 129 | publication, or notice. Unless posted on a publicly accessible |
| 130 | Internet website, for counties with more than 1 million total |
| 131 | population as reflected in the 2000 Official Decennial Census of |
| 132 | the United States Census Bureau as shown on the official website |
| 133 | of the United States Census Bureau, any notice of publication |
| 134 | required by this section shall be deemed to have been published |
| 135 | in accordance with the law if the notice is published in a |
| 136 | newspaper that has been entered as a periodical matter at a post |
| 137 | office in the county in which the newspaper is published, is |
| 138 | published a minimum of 5 days a week, exclusive of legal |
| 139 | holidays, and has been in existence and published a minimum of 5 |
| 140 | days a week, exclusive of legal holidays, for 1 year or is a |
| 141 | direct successor to a newspaper that has been in existence for 1 |
| 142 | year that has been published a minimum of 5 days a week, |
| 143 | exclusive of legal holidays. The advertisement, publication, or |
| 144 | notice shall be placed directly by the attorney for the |
| 145 | petitioner, by the petitioner if acting pro se, or by the clerk |
| 146 | of the court. Only the actual costs charged by the newspaper or |
| 147 | Internet website provider for the advertisement, publication, or |
| 148 | notice may be charged as costs in the action. |
| 149 | Section 3. This act shall take effect April 1, 2012. |