Florida Senator introduces bill to regulate bloggers writing about government officials [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur has proposed Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, which would require bloggers who write about government officials to register with the state or face fines.
• Bloggers who receive payment for writing about the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature would have to register with state offices within five days after publishing an article that mentions an elected state official.
• Failure to file disclosures or register with state officials would lead to daily fines for bloggers, with a maximum amount per report of $2,500.

Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur has proposed a bill that would require bloggers writing about government officials to register with the state. Senate Bill 1316, also known as the Information Dissemination bill, mandates that bloggers who receive payment for writing about the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature must register with state offices within five days of publishing an article that mentions an elected state official.

Failure to register or file disclosures would result in daily fines for bloggers, with a maximum amount of $2,500 per report.

The bill also requires bloggers to submit monthly reports on the 10th of each month to the appropriate state office. Bloggers are not required to submit a report in months when no content is published. Monthly reports must disclose the amount of compensation received for coverage, rounded to the nearest $10 value, for blog posts that concern an elected member of the legislature or an officer of the executive branch.

If compensation is paid for a series of posts or a specific amount of time, the blogger must disclose the total amount upon the publication of the first post in said series or timeframe.

The bill does not apply to newspapers or similar publications. Failure to file disclosures or register with state officials would result in daily fines for bloggers, with a maximum amount per report of $2,500. Fines must be paid within 30 days of payment notice, unless an appeal is filed with the appropriate office.

Fine payments must be deposited into the Legislative Lobbyist Registration Trust Fund if it concerns an elected member of the legislature. For writing about members of the executive branch, fines would be made payable to the Executive Branch Lobby Registration Trust Fund or, if it concerns both groups, the fine may be paid to both related trust funds in equal amounts.

Source: wfla.com