Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                         CHAPTER 30-S.F.No. 403 
           An act relating to newspapers; providing that a 
          newspaper that is not qualified must inform public 
          bodies that it is not qualified; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1986, section 331A.02, subdivision 1. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 331A.02, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [QUALIFICATION.] No newspaper in this state 
shall be entitled to any compensation or fee for publishing any 
public notice unless it is qualified as a medium of official and 
legal publication.  A newspaper that is not qualified must 
inform a public body that presents a public notice for 
publication that it is not qualified.  To be qualified as a 
medium of official and legal publication, a newspaper shall:  
    (a) be printed in the English language in newspaper format 
and in column and sheet form equivalent in printed space to at 
least 1,000 square inches; 
    (b) if a daily, be distributed at least five days each 
week, or if not a daily, be distributed at least once each week, 
for 50 weeks each year.  In any week in which a legal holiday is 
included, not more than four issues of a daily paper are 
necessary; 
    (c) in at least half of its issues each year, have no more 
than 75 percent of its printed space comprised of advertising 
material and paid public notices.  In all of its issues each 
year, have 25 percent, if published more often than weekly, or 
50 percent, if weekly, of its news columns devoted to news of 
local interest to the community which it purports to serve.  Not 
more than 25 percent of its total nonadvertising column inches 
in any issue may wholly duplicate any other publication unless 
the duplicated material is from recognized general news 
services; 
    (d) be circulated in the local public corporation which it 
purports to serve, and either have at least 500 copies regularly 
delivered to paying subscribers and have entry as second class 
matter in its local post office, or have at least 500 copies 
regularly distributed without charge to local residents; 
     (e) have its known office of issue established in either 
the county in which lies, in whole or in part, the local public 
corporation which the newspaper purports to serve, or in an 
adjoining county; 
     (f) file a copy of each issue immediately with the state 
historical society; 
     (g) be made available at single or subscription prices to 
any person, corporation, partnership, or other unincorporated 
association requesting the newspaper and making the applicable 
payment, or be distributed without charge to local residents; 
     (h) have complied with all the foregoing conditions of this 
subdivision for at least one year immediately preceding the date 
of the notice publication; 
     (i) the newspaper must before January 1 of each year 
publish and submit to the secretary of state, along with a 
filing fee of $25, a sworn United States Post Office 
second-class statement of ownership and circulation or a 
statement of ownership and circulation verified by a recognized 
independent circulation auditing agency. 
    Approved April 16, 1987