Noticias

New Jersey recently became one of several states to embrace the digital age by allowing municipalities to post legal notices on their websites rather than publish them in local newspapers.

Under legislation (S-4654/A-5878) signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy, private parties required to publish legal notices will also be able to do so via an online news publication, rather than printed newspaper.

The new public notice law was the subject of vigorous debate, in large part due to concerns about balancing modernization with transparency and public access. Whether the final version strikes the proper balance is still up for debate.

The Importance of Public Notices

Public notices are published notices required by law. They are used by governing bodies to inform the public about legal actions, public meetings, proposed regulations, business dealings, requests for proposals, and other issues that impact the community.

Public notices have a long history. In medieval Europe, important information was often announced by ringing church bells or displaying documents on church doors. The invention of the printing press resulted in a dramatic shift in how all information was disseminated, including legal notices. The Oxford Gazette, later renamed the London Gazette, was the first newspaper to publish public notices.

In Colonial America, public notices helped spur a revolution and establish a new government. In 1789, the Acts of the First Session of the First Congress mandated that the Secretary of State publish all bills, orders, resolutions and congressional votes in at least three publicly available newspapers. Over time, publishing public notices became a common legal requirement.  

The decline of print newspapers is currently driving another evolution. With many publications moving online, public notice requirements have also been forced to modernize. In New Jersey, the discontinuation of print editions of the Star-Ledger prompted lawmakers to act. Advance Local, which owns NJ Advance Media and NJ.com, also ended print publication of dailies The Times of Trenton and the South Jersey Times, as well as the weekly Hunterdon County Democrat.

New Jersey’s New Public Notice Law

New Jersey’s new public notice law makes several key changes to the requirements for posting public notices. Starting March 1, 2026, municipalities and other public entities can publish or advertise legal notices on their official websites. 

Websites must 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 must be conspicuously placed on the public entity’s Internet homepage. A local government unit may, in addition to the publication on its own website, publish or advertise a legal notice on an eligible online news publication.

The law also requires the Secretary of State to establish its own webpage that includes hyperlinks to the legal notices webpage of each public entity. Each public entity is required to submit the entity’s hyperlink to the Secretary of State and provide any updates.

Public entities must provide an advertisement at least twice a month for each month in 2026 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 website of the public entity and provides the hyperlink to the Secretary of State’s directory.

Non-public entities (corporations, individuals, etc.) required to publish or advertise legal notices will have to do so on an online news publication that satisfies certain eligibility requirements set forth in the law.