08 LC 28
3952ER
Senate
Bill 391
By:
Senators Staton of the 18th, Heath of the 31st, Douglas of the 17th, Rogers of
the 21st and Chance of the 16th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 13 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the Secretary of State, so as to require the Secretary of State to authorize
and procure a website service provider for the purpose of establishing and
maintaining a public notice website; to provide for definitions; to provide
that, when a public notice is required by law to be published in a manner other
than by posting in print in a legal organ of a county or in the official gazette
of a municipality, such requirement may be satisfied by posting such public
notice on the public notice website; to provide for certain requirements for
such website and website provider; to provide for the remission of certain
monies generated by the operation of the website back to counties; to provide
for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Chapter
13 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the
Secretary of State, is amended by adding a new article to read as
follows:
"ARTICLE
6
45-13-100.
As
used in this article, the term:
(1)
'Notice' means any notice that is required by law to be published by a state
agency for the purpose of notifying the public, with the exception of notices
which are required by law to be published in the legal organ of a county or in
the official gazette of a municipality, and includes notices of meetings under
Chapter 14 of Title 50 and notices of rule making under Chapter 13 of Title
50.
(2)
'Public notice website' means a website authorized and procured by the Secretary
of State for the purpose of providing the option of satisfying public notice
requirements of law by publishing public notices on the Internet.
(3)
'Website service provider' means the vendor selected to be the public notice
website provider and establish and maintain the public notice website for the
State of Georgia.
45-13-101.
When
a notice, other than a notice required by law to be published in the legal organ
of a county or in the official gazette of a municipality, is required by law to
be published, including notice of a meeting or notice of rule making, such
requirement may be satisfied by posting such notice on the public notice website
authorized and procured by the Secretary of State.
45-13-102.
(a)
The Secretary of State shall authorize and procure a single website service
provider for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a public notice website
meeting the requirements of this article.
(b)
The website service provider shall:
(1)
Permit posting of notices on the public notice website by an
agency;
(2)
Submit a periodic compliance report to the Secretary of State that includes such
quality review information as the Secretary of State may require. The Secretary
of State shall have full access to the website service provider´s
technological and informational operations for the purposes of such
review;
(3)
Maintain all of the features of the public notice website so that it is fully
publicly accessible at all times;
(4)
Maintain adequate government-grade security, including systematic protection,
back-up, hardware, and contingency planning to guard against power outages and
other security dangers which might compromise the integrity of the information
posted on the website;
(5)
Have the right to hold and use a domain name and Internet location which is
readily recognizable by the public and indicates the website´s
functionality and geography;
(6)
Not infringe on a legally protected intellectual property right of another
website company sufficient to cause interruption to the public notice website by
virtue of legal process;
(7)
Possess appropriate technology, infrastructure, and software sufficient to
operate and maintain the website with proper and efficient communication with
the noticing and user entities;
(8)
Have sufficient minimal capital requirements to ensure uninterrupted ongoing
operation as the Secretary of State may require to be certified upon
request;
(9)
Possess sufficient technology, together with the right to deploy such
technology, to allow uploading from government agencies directly onto the
website. Such technology shall be deployed without expense to the
state;
(10)
Ensure that individual notices are displayed for not less than the length of
time requested by the posting entity;
(11)
Include an archives feature that is accessible and free of charge as a public
service at all times and include a function that allows the public to determine
which notices have been posted by a given agency;
(12)
Provide that notices, both current and archived, are publicly searchable by
keyword, by agency, and by publication area;
(13)
Not charge a fee to a person accessing, searching, or using a public notice
website function;
(14)
Charge a reasonable fee, not to exceed $25.00 per posting, for the provision and
maintenance of website services which shall be at no cost to the state or any of
its political subdivisions except when posting a notice;
(15)
Remit 10 percent of the profits generated by the operation of the website back
to the counties of the state for discretionary use in the prosecution of
governmental affairs for the benefit of the public; and
(16)
Post a bond of reasonable amount as determined by the Secretary of State to
ensure the public interest."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.