Happy Monday MCANJ Members-
Acting Governor Way has signed the legislation authorizing public bodies to continue using newspapers for required public notices and legal advertisements until June 30th and requires newspapers to disclose circulation information to the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) until June 30th.
In addition to changing the deadline from the requested December 31, 2025, to June 30, 2025, the amendments require the news media who print public notices and legal advertisements to submit information to the Governor and Office of Legislative Services (OLS) within 30 days of enactment. The information would include number of paid digital subscriptions by each public body; number of unpaid digital and print subscriptions by each public body; number of newspapers sold daily by retailers; amounts billed for the publication of public notices and legal advertisements in print or electronic format from 2020-2024 by each public body; average retail price of digital and print subscriptions; number of daily page views for webpages on the online newspaper’s website for public notices and legal advertisements are published from January 1, 2024 to effective date of bill; and any other information requested by the Office of Legislative Services (OLS).
The New Jersey League of Municipalities (NJLM) is continuing to work on long-term solutions that will permit municipalities, counties, and school boards to publish public notices and legal advertisements on the public agencies’ websites. They keep pushing for municipalities to have the choice of how notices are published and include a choice of having the notices published on the municipal website. One question they keep getting is how much towns are spending on public notices. For those around long enough to remember, NJLM did a survey when Kevin Galland was President and it included 2009, 2010, and 2011 data. That is outdated at this time, so NJLM is once again asking Municipal Clerks to complete a survey on public notice costs for 2020 to 2024.
Please take a few minutes to complete a survey on costs from 2020 through 2024. Also, if you have not done so already, consider adopting the sample resolution supporting legislation permitting publication of legal notices on municipalities’ websites.
This is your time to make change happen! Please take the time to complete the above survey to assist NJLM.
Thank you!!!
The MCANJ Executive Board