A new law governing the publication of public notices moves the obligation to publish them in newspapers to the official websites of public entities. Publication on online news organizations is optional until March 1, 2026, at which point if non-public entities are required to publish a notice they must do so with online news organizations that meet specific requirements as enumerated under the law. Gov. Phil Murphy signed S4654 (Scutari) into law on June 30. The New Jersey State Bar Association previously urged a uniform approach to public notices to clarify and streamline the process in favor of more notice and accessibility by the public.
The debate of publication of public notices increased following The Star-Ledger’s announcement that the statewide newspaper would cease printing. The announcement left municipalities scrambling to identify an official newspaper to publish notices of public meetings under the Open Public Meetings Act.
The Legislature introduced a stopgap measure to buy more time to address the issue. While many of the provisions of the new law are optional, after March 1, 2026, it will be mandatory for a public entity to publish or advertise on the entity’s website free of charge for at least a week. The Secretary of State must establish an internet webpage that hyperlinks to the legal notices of each public entity. These notices will also be accessible by the public free of charge. The public entities must archive legal notices for at least one year, which is not necessarily subject to any records retention. In addition, a local government unit may, in addition to publication on its official internet website, authorize publication on a separately eligible online news publication that meets the criteria of the bill.
After March 1, 2026, any corporation, individual or other entity that is not a public entity that is required by law, order or rule of court to publish or advertise a legal notice must publish on an online news publication that satisfies specific requirements including that the domain name be easily recognizable and understandable as belonging to that online news publication; be fully accessible and searchable by members of the public at all times; maintain an archive for at least one year; display the legal notice for at least one week or other time period as required by law prior to placing it in an archive; and be searchable by key word, party name, case number, county, or other identifiers.
Public entities are also required to publish twice monthly notifications through Dec. 1, 2026, in an online publication 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 contains the hyperlink to the state’s website.
For a full copy of the law, click here.