HARRISBURG — School districts, counties and other governmental bodies would see their costs to place legal ads in newspapers cut by 25 percent under a bill that passed the state House on Tuesday.

The House voted 127-62 to advance a measure to link legal ad rates to a fraction of either the papers' lowest commercial rate or what papers were charging their customers on July 1, whichever is lower. Increases after June 2012 would be pegged to inflation.

The sponsor, Rep. John Hornaman, urged members to support what he described as a compromise designed to lessen the financial impact on newspapers that need the revenue while cutting taxpayers' costs.

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association estimated the bill would reduce payments to more than 175 daily and weekly papers across the state by a total of about $5 million in the first year.

"It's been five years of assaults against newspapers' advertising, and we have many supporters at the Capitol who have told us, quite frankly, that we needed to put a compromise on the table," association lobbyist Deb Musselman said.