* Earlier this week, the House and Senate unanimously approved SB291 and sent it to the governor in a single day.

What does the bill do? From the synopsis…

Amends the Notice by Publication Act and the Newspaper Legal Notice Act. Provides that one of the 5 elements of the definition of “newspaper” is modified to provide that a newspaper consists of not less than 4 pages of printed matter and contains at least 100 (instead of 130) square inches of printed matter per page.

Senate President John Cullerton told reporters this week that the change was intended to make sure the Sun-Times and the Chicago Defender could continue publishing taxpayer-financed legal notices since the papers had altered their designs…

The legislation also makes clear that any legal notices published by the newspapers in violation of existing state law are now to be considered valid…

Provides that any notice published prior to the effective date of the amendatory Act that complies with the amendatory Act is legal and valid for all purposes. Effective immediately.

That’s what you would call bending over backwards for a couple of publishers.

…Adding… The bill was actually introduced by House Majority Leader Barb Currie on behalf of the Hyde Park Herald, where David Axelrod got his start. A Sun-Times employee just said this was the first he’d heard of any benefit for his paper.

* Back in May, both chambers unanimously approved SB1671, which extended the sales tax exemption for graphic arts machinery and equipment until August 30, 2014. The tax credit was set to expire at the end of July.

Just for good measure, the General Assembly made it clear that newspapers were included in this tax exemption…

For the purpose of this Section, persons engaged primarily in the business of printing or publishing newspapers or magazines that qualify as newsprint and ink… are deemed to be engaged in graphic arts production.

Please, keep all of this in mind when you read newspaper editorials about taxes and spending.

Discuss.