Bill Text: NJ A649 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Eliminates mandatory newspaper publication of legal notices by governments and individuals; permits voluntary publication of legal notices in newspapers or on Internet.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-27 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A649 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-A649-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
217th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2016 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman MICHAEL PATRICK CARROLL
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Eliminates mandatory newspaper publication of legal notices by governments and individuals; permits voluntary publication of legal notices in newspapers or on Internet.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act eliminating mandatory newspaper publication of legal notices and supplementing Title 35 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Whenever any State or local government entity or any individual is required by law to publish a legal notice in one or more newspapers, that requirement shall be deemed to be permissive and the government agency or individual shall have the choice of:
publishing the notice in a newspaper or newspapers as provided by that law;
publishing the notice on an official government website instead of a newspaper, as provided by this section; or
not publishing the notice at all.
b. An official government website of a State or local government entity that is used for the publication of legal notices pursuant to this section shall:
be maintained by the government entity or a third party with which it contracts;
be accessible to the public at all times;
contain a list of all current legal notices of the government entity and provide access to the full text of those notices;
contain an e-mail link to submit a complaint to the government entity if access to any legal notice fails; and
permit a member of the public to publish a legal notice on the public entity's official government website upon payment of a reasonable fee, not to exceed the cost that would be incurred by newspaper publication of the notice.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill eliminates mandatory publication of legal notices in newspapers in order to save the public and individuals money. Newspaper readership has declined over the past several decades and legal notices, which represent a substantial expense for government and individuals, generally are unnoticed and unread.
The bill provides that whenever any State or local government entity or any individual is required by law to publish a legal notice in one or more newspapers, that requirement will be deemed to be permissive. A government entity or individual will have the choice of publishing the notice in a newspaper as provided by law, publishing the notice on an official government website, or not publishing the notice. The bill also establishes certain criteria for government websites that post legal notices and permits a member of the public to publish a legal notice on a government website upon payment of a reasonable fee, not to exceed the cost that would be incurred by newspaper publication of the notice.
