Bill > A5878

Introduced Session

This bill provides that whenever a public entity, as defined in the bill, is required by law or by order or rule of any court to publish or advertise a legal notice, the public entity is to publish or advertise the legal notice on the public entity's official Internet website. The majority of the bill's requirements are mandatory beginning March 1, 2026, and are optional until that date. Under the bill, the public entity's official Internet website is to be accessible and available to the public free of charge, and a direct hyperlink to legal notices published on the public entity's official Internet website is to be conspicuously placed on the public entity's Internet homepage. The Secretary of State, with support from the Office of Information Technology and any other State agency the secretary deems necessary, is required to establish an Internet webpage which includes the hyperlinks to the legal notices webpage of each public entity. The legal notices hyperlink webpage is to be accessible and available to the public free of charge and be accessible by a direct hyperlink that is conspicuously placed on the Secretary of State's homepage. Each public entity is required to submit the entity's hyperlink to the Secretary of State and provide any updates thereto. The bill provides that a public entity is required to maintain an Internet archive of legal notices that are no longer displayed, which are required to be kept for at least one year. A public entity is required to display a legal notice on its legal notices webpage for at least one week, or other time period as required by law, before transferring it to the archive. Under the bill, a local government unit is not required to maintain an archive until July 1, 2026. Under the bill, a local government unit may in addition to the publication on its official website, publish or advertise a legal notice on an eligible online news publication that meets the criteria as specified in the bill. The bill also provides that whenever a corporation, individual, or any other entity that is not a public entity is required by law or by the order or rule of any court to publish or advertise a legal notice, the corporation, individual, or other entity is to publish or advertise the legal notice on an online news publication that satisfies the eligibility requirements to function as an online news publication, as specified in the bill. For the year from January 1, 2026, a public entity is required to provide an advertisement at least twice per month in an eligible online news publication that: states that the complete text of each legal notice may be obtained or viewed by the public on the official Internet website of the public entity; and provides the hyperlink to the Secretary of State's legal notices hyperlink Internet webpage, with exceptions provided in the bill. Additionally, under current law, a newspaper utilized, or permitted to be utilized, by a person or public body, as defined in section 3 of the "Open Public Meetings Act," P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-8), from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024 for the purpose of complying with any requirements for issuing or publishing a public notice or legal advertisement, including, but not limited to, for providing adequate notice of a meeting, the solicitation of bids, qualifications, or proposals, or the publication of any ordinances, synopses, or summaries of official documents, is deemed eligible for the same purposes from January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025 if the newspaper's publication is in print or electronic format. This bill amends that law to provide that public bodies may continue using qualifying newspapers for required public notices and legal advertisements until March 1, 2026 regardless of format. The bill is to take effect immediately.

Committee Categories

Michael Inganamort (R)*,  Alexander Schnall (D)*,  Carol Murphy (D), 

Substituted by S4654 (on 06/30/2025)

Official Document