'Blogger' bill dies: How would Florida SB 1316 have required bloggers to register?

Since it was introduced in February, Senate Bill 1316 was destined to fail in the Florida Legislature.

The legislation, proposed by Florida State Sen. Jason Brodeur, would require bloggers who wrote about Florida elected officials to register with the state and file monthly reports showing any “compensation” they received for making such posts.

Brodeur told Florida Politics in March that bloggers “are lobbyists who write instead of talk,” and because lobbyists “have to register and report, why shouldn’t paid bloggers?”

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The proposal was quickly criticized for its violation of the First Amendment, with Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression calling the bill an "affront to the First Amendment and our national commitment to freedom of the press.”

The bill died in the Florida Senate’s Judiciary Committee earlier this month.

How did the bill define ‘blog’ and ‘bloggers’?

According to the bill, a blog is a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary or business content. It also said that newspapers' and similar publications’ websites would not apply.

A blogger would be considered “any person that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently published.”

How would the bill require bloggers to ‘register’ and ‘report’ to the state?

According to the bill, bloggers would need to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services "within five days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.”

These elected state officers would include the governor, the lieutenant governor, a cabinet officer or any member of the Legislature.

The bill did not specify the type of content − it only said if it "mentions" or is "about" an elected official, the blogger would be required to register.

Then the blogger would need to “file monthly reports on the 10th day following the end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to the blog.”

These reports would need to contain, in detail, how the blogger was compensated for each post.

How would the bill penalize bloggers for not reporting?

Bloggers who failed to produce those reports would receive a fine of $25 per day per report for each day late (not to exceed $2,500 per report), according to the bill.

The fine would have to be paid within 30 days and the payment be transmitted either to the Legislative Lobbyist Registration Trust Fund (if the report relates to a post about a member of the Legislature), or the Executive Branch Lobby Registration Trust Fund (if the report relates to a post about a member of the executive branch).

Bloggers would be able to appeal the fine in court, “based upon reasonable circumstances surrounding the failure to file by the designated date.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida SB 1316 would have required bloggers to register with the state