An Act to repeal 35.35 (1) (a); to renumber 35.35 (1) (b); to amend 13.92 (1) (b) 3. a., 35.17 (1) and 985.08 (2) (a) of the statutes; Relating to: newspaper publication and typeface for certain legal notices.
Summary
SB440 revises Wisconsin statutes governing the publication of certain legal notices in newspapers. The bill repeals one subsection of the legal-notice publication law, renumbers another, and updates related enrollment and publication provisions administered by the Legislative Reference Bureau. It also amends the statute on legal-notice formatting to require notices to be set in Arial, a sans serif typeface, and specifies standards for line length, point size, spacing, and fee adjustments when larger type is used.
In practical terms, the bill changes how legal notices must appear in print and how publication costs are calculated when type size or line length varies. It also preserves the authority of the Department of Administration to certify fee adjustments, with that certification serving as presumptive evidence of the correct adjustment. The act takes effect under Wisconsin’s standard publication rule unless otherwise specified.
Impact
The bill directly amends statutes in chapters 13, 35, and 985 of the Wisconsin Statutes. It removes obsolete or duplicative statutory language, renumbers a legal-notice provision, and changes the required typeface for legal notices from a more general standard to a specific Arial sans serif requirement. Newspapers, public officials, the Legislative Reference Bureau, and agencies or persons placing legal notices are the primary affected parties, because the bill changes publication formatting requirements and the method for calculating compensation for notice publication.
Sentiment
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or opposition in the available materials. Based on the text alone, the bill appears technical and administrative rather than ideological, suggesting a generally neutral or procedural posture. The published status indicates it was enacted without any visible controversy in the supplied record.
Contention
The main potential point of contention is the mandated use of Arial for legal notices, which could affect newspaper layout practices and publication costs. Another possible issue is the fee-adjustment formula tied to type size and line length, since newspapers or notice-publishing entities may view those rules as affecting compensation or operational flexibility. No specific opponents or supporters are identified in the available context, and no recorded committee debate is included.
Crossfiled
An Act to repeal 35.35 (1) (a); to renumber 35.35 (1) (b); to amend 13.92 (1) (b) 3. a., 35.17 (1) and 985.08 (2) (a) of the statutes; Relating to: newspaper publication and typeface for certain legal notices.