West Virginia Press Association
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Senate Government Organization Committee, on Tuesday, advanced a bill that would reduce rates for legal advertising in the state’s newspapers.
Senate Bill 264, sponsored by Senator Jack David Woodrum, R-Summers, states that a “publisher or proprietor of a qualified newspaper in West Virginia may charge and receive four cents per word for a single or first publication of any legal advertisement set solid.”
Currently, the four cents rate is only applicable to newspapers that have a bona fide circulation of less than 1,000.
“That gradually increases for newspapers depending on their bona-fide circulation, up to eleven cents per word,” counsel explained, adding that higher rates are for newspapers with a circulation of 30,000 or more.
Upon passage, the bill would go into effect in 90 days.
Following counsel’s brief explanation of the bill, and with no further discussion, committee members voted to advance the bill to the full Senate.
“This is significant,” said West Virginia Press Association Executive Director Betsy Miles. “While all other costs are rising, the state’s government wants to cut the legal advertising rate – a rate that has not seen an increase in over 20 years. Government should not require a private business to perform a public service at a loss. Our newspapers are businesses and provide a much-needed service to keep the people in our communities informed. If this bill has enough impact that a newspaper, or several newspapers close, are those communities, or West Virginia, better served?”
