Section 985.03. Qualifications of newspapers.

 

(1)  

(a) No publisher of any newspaper in this state shall be awarded or be entitled to any compensation or fee for the publishing of any legal notice unless, for at least 2 of the 5 years immediately before the date of the notice publication, the newspaper has been published regularly and continuously in the city, village or town where published, and has had a bona fide paid circulation:

1. That has constituted 50 percent or more of its circulation; and,

2. That has had actual subscribers at each publication of not less than 1,000 copies in 1st and 2nd class cities, or 300 copies if in 3rd and 4th class cities, villages or towns.

(b) Suspension of publication resulting from the mobilization of troops being called to active duty with the armed forces, strike, lockout or damage, or destruction due to war, fire or act of God, shall not count as an interval in publication.

(bm) A period of disqualification not to exceed 2 years due only to the place of publication shall not count as an interval in publication.

(c) A newspaper, under this chapter, is a publication that is published at regular intervals and at least once a week, containing reports of happenings of recent occurrence of a varied character, such as political, social, moral and religious subjects, designed to inform the general reader. The definition includes a daily newspaper published in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, devoted principally to business news and publishing of records, which has been designated by the courts of record of the county for publication of legal notices for a period of 6 months or more.

(2)  Any person charged with the duty of causing legal notices to be published, and who causes any legal notice, to be published in any newspaper not eligible to so publish under the requirements of sub. (1) , or who fails to cause such legal notice to be published in any newspaper eligible under this section, may be fined not to exceed $100 for each offense. Each day in which a legal notice should have been but was not published as required by law shall constitute a separate offense hereunder. A newspaper in order to be eligible under this section shall also file a certificate with the county clerk stating that it qualifies under this section and stating its place of publication.

1975 c. 341 ; 1989 a. 31 ; 2011 a. 228 . This section does not violate equal protection. The term "paid circulation," as a requirement under sub. (1) (a), is discussed. Community Newspapers v. West Allis, 156 Wis. 2d 350 , 456 N.W.2d 646 (Ct. App. 1990). A municipality may not expend funds to publish legal notice in a "shopper" that does not meet the qualifications in s. 985.03 (1) (a). 71 Atty. Gen. 177 .