Controversial foreclosure notice bill loses steam in Senate, a win for local press advocates

A Tennessee bill to move foreclosure advertisements from newspapers to a state-owned website, a move that press advocates warned could inflict serious financial harm on local news organizations, died for the year in a Senate committee on Tuesday.

SB 1324, sponsored by Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, sought to remove from state law the requirement that public notices of foreclosed properties be published three times in a local newspaper, and instead allow residents to upload the notice to the Secretary of State’s website.

The change would bring in nearly $1 million in annual revenue for the state.

Public notices:Why Tennessee press advocates and publishers are pushing back on this public notice bill

Proponents of the bill, including the Tennessee Bankers Association, said the legislation would decrease costs for banks and residents involved in the foreclosure process.

Press advocates, however, argued that the move could decimate local newspapers, who rely heavily on public notice revenue, as well as limit the means of access to the notices for rural Tennesseans without internet.

Foreclosure ads are currently displayed both in newspapers and a statewide website run by the Tennessee Press Association.

The Senate's State and Local Government Committee assigned the bill to its general subcommittee, a procedural move that effectively ends the legislation's chances of passage this year.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Controversial public notice bill loses steam in Senate