Get AI Briefings, Transcripts & Alerts on Local & National Government Meetings — Forever.
Committee advances bill to modernize foreclosure notice process; newspapers and bankers clash over online posting
Loading...
Summary
House Bill 1127, a measure to reduce print publication requirements for foreclosure notices and require online posting, moved to full judiciary after testimony from the Tennessee Press Association, local publishers and the Tennessee Bankers Association that highlighted competing concerns about cost, access and oversight of third-party websites.
Chairman Farmer presented House Bill 1127 and explained the measure and its amendment would phase in changes to how foreclosure sale notices are published. Under the amendment, the number of required newspaper publications would step down—first to two publications and then to one after two years—and trustees would also be required to post notices on a third-party internet listing for 20 continuous days prior to sale. The amendment would require the Secretary of State to provide a listing of third-party foreclosure posting companies and allow newspapers to serve as the third-party provider if they choose.
Dave Gould, president of Main Street Media of Tennessee and a representative of the Tennessee Press Association, testified in opposition. Gould said local weekly newspapers and a statewide public-notice website already provide free access to notices and that moving notices to an undefined third-party site would reduce exposure, risk local papers’ revenue, and could create undefined pricing. “What this bill would end up doing is cutting way back on the exposure of the notices, taking money from local Tennessee newspapers, which puts at risk local Tennessee jobs, and handing the money off to some undefined third party website,” Gould told the committee.
Mark Millsap, executive director of the Tennessee Press Association, reiterated the association operates a statewide public-notice website (tmpublicnotices.com) that is free to view and questioned the need for an undefined third-party vendor.
Amy Hazlett of the Tennessee Bankers Association testified in favor of the bill as amended, saying the amendment would “modernize the foreclosure process in Tennessee and reduce the financial burden placed on homeowners facing foreclosure” by lowering publication frequency and requiring online posting to increase exposure and potentially boost sale interest. Hazlett said trustees would still be able to choose newspapers as the third-party provider and that trustees must comply with market-analysis requirements; she cited an Arkansas practice with a historical online-posting fee of about $275.
Committee members probed both sides about cost, internet access in rural counties, and how trustees would choose vendors. Gould emphasized that newspaper pricing is set by state law (classified rates) and that the industry’s statewide notice site already aggregates notices free of charge. Hazlett said the bill would not eliminate direct notice to homeowners and would not override publication requirements contained in a deed of trust.
The subcommittee voted to send House Bill 1127 to full judiciary as amended. The clerk recorded 5 ayes, 1 no and 1 present not voting.
