There are three general types of public notices:
1. Citizen Participation
Examples of this type of notice include the publication of public budgets, notices of public hearings, and notices of intentions to create new taxation or benefit zones.
These are intended to afford the public the time and opportunity to react to proposed government action.
Many of these notices are intended to satisfy the requirement of “due process of law”, found in both our Federal and State constitutions. The concept of Due Process is based on notions of fairness, and requires governments to notify citizens against whom they plan to take action in order to allow citizens the opportunity to defend themselves.
2. Business and Commerce
The second type is notices of government contracts and purchases and other business-related notices.
Requiring governments to publish notices calling for contract bids ensures that the government is operating in accordance with principles of equal opportunity. It also allows the public to make sure the government is not spending tax money unwisely. Finally, it ensures that the government gets the best price for a service. By requiring public bids on contracts, the government forces companies to offer a better rate than they may offer without a public bidding process.
Another example of a Business and Commerce public notice law is one that requires corporations and other business entities to publish their intention to do business in an area, and also to give notice to the community when the entity dissolves. This serves to protect creditors and consumers from fraudulent practices.
A final type of business notice is an unclaimed property notice. Often, insurance companies and other businesses have money or property that belongs to a customer that has moved away or has otherwise not recovered their property. Businesses are required to keep these items for a specified amount of time, after which it is given to the state. Most states must then publish public notices attempting to get the property back to its rightful owner. Unclaimed property notices are some of the largest and most popular public notices that are printed.
3. Court Notices
The final type of public notice consists of notices by non-governmental entities which use public powers or institutions in some way.
For example, when probating a will, attorneys must often publish a notice informing the public of the appointment of an administrator of the estate being probated. This allows the public to object to any appointment based on conflicts of interest.
The attorney must also publish a notice to unknown creditors. This serves the function of notifying anyone with a claim against the estate of the deceased that they must assert their claim within a certain time period, or else risk having their claim barred.