As used in this Chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this Section:

            (1) “Bona fide paying subscribers” shall mean persons who have subscribed at a subscription rate which is not nominal, whether by mail subscriptions, purchases through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sellers, or any combination thereof, but shall not include free circulation, sales at token or nominal subscription price, and sales in bulk for purposes other than for resale for individual subscribers.

            (2) “General paid circulation” shall not include publications when one-half or more of all copies circulated are provided free of charge to the ultimate recipients, or are paid for at nominal rates by the ultimate recipients.

            (3) “Newspaper” shall mean a publication that complies with the requirement of La. Rev. Stat. 43:141.1(A) and during each year of the five-year period prior to the first publication of any legal or official notice therein:

            (a) Has been published at regular intervals of not less than weekly.

            (b) Has been originated and published for the dissemination of current news and intelligence of varied, broad, and general public interest, including regular news coverage of local public meetings and events, and is not devoted to the interests of, or published for the entertainment or instruction of, or has a circulation restricted to, any particular sect, denomination, labor or fraternal organization, or other special group or class of citizens.

            (c) Has not been published primarily for advertising purposes and has not contained more than seventy-five percent advertising in more than one-half of its issues, excluding separate advertising supplements inserted into but separately identifiable from any regular issue or issues.

            (d) Has maintained a general paid circulation to bona fide paying subscribers within the area the publication is required.

            (4) “Nominal rate(s)” shall mean a price which is so small or slight that it is not considered real or substantial in comparison with what might reasonably be expected.

            (5) “Office” shall mean the newspaper‘s principal public business office and need not be the place at which the newspaper’s printing presses are physically located. A newspaper shall have only one principal public business office; however, any newspaper with a principal business office in a parish adjoining Jefferson Parish which within one year prior to June 1, 1986, has actually published official proceedings of any municipal corporation, parish council, police jury, or school board in Jefferson Parish shall be deemed to be published in an office physically located in both the parish where the newspaper maintains its principal business office and Jefferson Parish.

            Acts 1986, No. 378, §1, eff. July 2, 1986; Acts 2011, 1^st Ex. Sess., No. 36, §1; Acts 2023, No. 178, §1.