Thousands of laws in all 50 states of our nation require governmental and non-governmental entities to publish public notices.
The types of notices required to be published range from public budgets, to notices of public hearings, to notices informing creditors of dissolving corporations. While these laws vary greatly with regard to the details of publication, they all share the same goal: to ensure that the public is adequately informed of the actions of its government and other entities in their communities.
The following is an example of a specific public notice law which requires a local planning commission to give notice of a public hearing:
(b) Upon the development of proposed zoning regulations, the planning commission shall hold a public hearing thereon. Notice of such public hearing shall be published at least once in the official city newspaper in the case of a city or in the official county newspaper in the case of a county at least 20 days prior to the date of the hearing.