Legislative watch on Journalism
Assemblymember Heath Flora AB 1444 - OPPOSE
CA/Google "deal" - Status: Request CINA Board Seat
Assemblymember Heath Flora AB 1444 - OPPOSE
"Public Notice" (Backed by CNPA)
AB 1444 CINA OPPOSES without amendment.
What’s wrong with AB 1444? Section C.
- Adds financial burden to already strained local independent newspapers.
- Drives up the cost of legal notices
- Puts a big trade organization in position to make millions of dollars annually on the backs of California’s newspapers.
- Doe
"Public Notice" (Backed by CNPA)
AB 1444 CINA OPPOSES without amendment.
What’s wrong with AB 1444? Section C.
- Adds financial burden to already strained local independent newspapers.
- Drives up the cost of legal notices
- Puts a big trade organization in position to make millions of dollars annually on the backs of California’s newspapers.
- Does not compensate publishers for data that it forces them to turn over at their expense, and allows the data to be sold.
Possible Legislation in Progress
CA/Google "deal" - Status: Request CINA Board Seat
Assemblymember Heath Flora AB 1444 - OPPOSE
Community Disaster Response Reporting Fund - CPUC phone tax to reimburse disaster reporting.
CINA, Rebuild, Common Cause and Media Workers are meeting as a working group and seeking an author and building out details.
Employment Tax Credit for Journalists - Tech giants Bill, being worked on by former Sen. Glazer (author of similar failed S
Community Disaster Response Reporting Fund - CPUC phone tax to reimburse disaster reporting.
CINA, Rebuild, Common Cause and Media Workers are meeting as a working group and seeking an author and building out details.
Employment Tax Credit for Journalists - Tech giants Bill, being worked on by former Sen. Glazer (author of similar failed SB 1327) and a new working group that includes 40 invites from all sectors of the CA news industry.
Extension of Berkeley Fellowship - budget in question as state portion is not included in the 2027 budget, Steve Glazer will be working to preserve this program.
CA/Google "deal" - Status: Request CINA Board Seat
CA/Google "deal" - Status: Request CINA Board Seat
CA/Google "deal" - Status: Request CINA Board Seat
SB 155 - Google settlement - GoBiz/Asm Buffy Wicks/ Approved Oct. 11, 2025 Gov. Newsom: budget in question as state portion is not included in the 2027 budget Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. An arrangement between the State of California and Google is being worked on to pay California news publishers to mitigate the damage the monopoly has ca
SB 155 - Google settlement - GoBiz/Asm Buffy Wicks/ Approved Oct. 11, 2025 Gov. Newsom: budget in question as state portion is not included in the 2027 budget Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. An arrangement between the State of California and Google is being worked on to pay California news publishers to mitigate the damage the monopoly has caused to the news industry. GoBiz is planned to work out the distribution of any deal funds. The advisory board seats include: California News Publishers Association(2 seats), California Black Media, Latino Media Collaborative and Ethnic Media Services and Media Guild of the West, with two at large seats. CINA seeks a position on the board.
editorial comment AB 1444 Public notice - oppose
By Greg Little, editor Mariposa Gazette
How much can you afford to pay CNPA for each public notice?
Preserving public notice is at the heart (and bottom line) of adjudicated newspapers; so why is California Independent News Alliance (CINA) opposed to AB 1444? Splainer:
It is ironic a longstanding statewide organization charged with protecting many small businesses is now advocating to harm those businesses — for its own financial gain – in its support of legislation regulating public notices.
Such is the case with the California News Publishers Association which is advocating for AB 1444, sponsored by Assembly Member Heath Flora.
This flawed legislation does just the opposite of what public notices are all about — and that is making sure the public is informed.
The main issue with the legislation is in Section C, which would require all newspapers to upload every notice to the CNPA website. It would allow CNPA to charge whatever it chooses to newspapers — the very businesses they should be financially protecting.
The California Independent News Alliance (CINA) is in deep opposition to this bill because it does harm to small, independent newspapers who have historically struggled financially.
The proposed bill actually threatens public notices for a simple reason — publishers will be forced to increase prices to cover CNPA’s insistence on financial gain for a public service.
It is clear CNPA is attempting to make money on the backs of small newspapers, something that is ironic considering it should be trying to support ALL newspapers in the State of California. That’s not even mentioning they could sell the data they collect from the legal notifications.
The icing on the cake came in a June 2 letter CNPA sent to its members, basically saying CINA, without mentioning us by name, and California Black Media members misunderstand the bill. CINA and California Black Media members are well versed in this field and it is the very reason the group has been formed. Keeping local journalism alive is the laser-focus of CINA and the members don’t appreciate the gaslighting effort of CNPA.
Also ironic is the fact legal notices have been working just fine under the current system. Most local publishers will tell you there are “loyal” legal notice readers and they appreciate knowing when and how to find that information.
In the vast majority of cases, the smaller newspapers are already putting legal notices online via their own websites and those are offered free as a service to the public. That is the very essence of legal notice requirements in California. CINA already supports local news outlets putting legal notices on their own websites — where they belong.
To be clear, CINA supports Sections A and B of the bill which require digital posting of public notices on local news websites. But it adamantly opposes Section C, which would require local news organizations to post the notices on a statewide website maintained by CNPA for its profit.
The overall stance of CINA is for all members to contact their legislators and urge them to vote NO on AB 1444 (without amendment).
To quote an old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
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