Use PNRC – It is Here to Support You.

The Public Notice Resource Center is here to support your effort to retain public and legal notices in newspapers. Your donation helps PNRC track legislation and be a resource for your legislative efforts.
The PNRC Board is available to speak at your convention, reminding publishers about the best practices for public notices and staff an informational table. When a newspaper does not follow best practices, it can jeopardize notices for all.
PNRC is willing to discuss strategies for legislative efforts and help successfully identify legislative efforts in other states.
PNRC is funded by donations from state press associations and members of American Courts and Commercial Newspapers. Without the continued support PNRC would not be the resource for keeping notices public.

What’s Happening Around the Country?

Newspapers Closed with No Notice

News Media Corporation ceased operations August 6, with all newspapers closing immediately, which included locations in Arizona, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The status of public notices was in question when these newspapers abruptly closed. The definition of a newspaper generally requires publication consecutively for 52 weeks and missing a week threatens future public notices.
The newspapers in Wyoming were purchased and reopened; most had already been printed prior to the shutdown. In South Dakota, some local governments reportedly met and designated another newspaper as its designated newspaper.
A disruption in a print newspaper being able to publish public notices gives government bodies and legislatures fuel to introduce bills to remove public notices from newspapers.
The other concern for public notices is the trend of newspapers migrating to digital only publications when state statues require notices be in print newspapers. A recent example is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announcing it will end print edition on December 31, 2025.
How do we build the case for newspapers to be the content provider no matter what the media utilized to distribute information?
PNRC can draft legislation to address newspapers moving to “digital only “which may create print news deserts. Working on “Successor digital publications” (digital only) with appropriate parameters may allow print and e-editions to run public notices. Not first choice but a viable alternative, this may provide clear key concepts critical to legislation that should be included in bills for other states moving in that direction. To make sure notices still have independence transparency and permanence of record. Which are so important for public notice.
Newspapers have always been content creators and the medium for distribution does not matter but the original reason for newspapers publishing notices was to serve as a watchdog. So how do we prevent government bodies doing it themselves? You can’t trust government to watch itself.
Legacy newspapers and now their successors continue to serve as the independent, trusted third party source to watchdog the government.
PNRC should promote the parameters for public notice, but government can’t do it. Public Notice must be in publications that contain a clear percentage of local content.
The newspaper industry needs to have in our back pocket legislative language that can help newspapers transition to meet the changing needs of readers.
In a special meeting held just days after a county’s paper of closed, commissioners voted to designate another newspaper as the county’s official agent for legal notices.

County supervisors knew notices were flawed before voting.

Why is it critical that public notices remain in newspapers whether in print or e-editions? It cannot be said enough that government cannot be trusted.
The Prince Williams Times reported that County supervisors knew two years ago that newspaper ads announcing public hearings and rezoning votes on a pending project were flawed and twice considered postponing their votes but did not.
The judge voided the rezonings because she said the three legal advertisements the county placed ahead of the rezoning votes did not comply with both state and local laws.
County Supervisors were alerted to the problems with the public notices – and the potential legal risks nearly two weeks before the public hearings were held.
County Attorney sent the supervisors an email that the ads did not as planned and, as a result, there was “significant risk” that any rezoning decision could be challenged in court, according to an email obtained by the Prince William Times.
“If the board proceeds, if action on the applications (are) challenged, there will likely be a legal argument that the legally required advertisements were not met, and thus the board’s actions would be invalid.”
The attorney noted that “procedural challenges, including challenges to the advertisement, are generally the most serious legal issues localities face regarding land use applications.”
A Commissioner said, “Basically, we wanted to get them on the record as much as we could that we should have readvertised” the public hearings. ”
https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/news/breaking-judge-overturns-prince-william-digital-gateway/article_951d6362-1bbd-416f-89c5-ff322bf49fa8.html

Legislation What’s Happening?

Since April 2025 PNRC had tracked legislation related to Public Notice, there have been 19 bills that died, and 28 bills enacted. In addition, PNRC is tracking 79 bills that have been introduced, are in committee or have crossed over to the other chamber. These range from enactment of two bills allowing public notices to be on government websites rather than printed in newspapers, adding transparency to notices for open meetings, standardizing public notice timelines and procedures across all statues, Examples:
Enacted
Websites publishing legal notices must be free to access, without requiring any fees or subscriptions, and must be owned by an entity separate from the newspaper of general circulation.
Allows notices to be published in a “digital newspaper” in lieu of publication in the print edition of a local newspaper, in counties where no papers qualify to publish notice under existing laws. To qualify as a digital newspaper, a publication must have an “audited paid-subscriber base.”
Dead
Allows government subdivisions to publish notice on “alternative media”, including “social media”, school newspapers or “any other form of media authorized by the comptroller”, in lieu of a local newspaper, so long as the subdivision demonstrates at a public hearing that the alternative media “has greater circulation than the newspaper with the greatest circulation in the political subdivision.” Also requires notice to be posted on government websites.
Requires Secretary of State to build and maintain a “centralized electronic notice system” and allow all notices to be published there for a “reasonable fee” not to exceed $10 per notice,

Texas

Letter to Texas Lt. Governor

PNRC President Brad Thompson sent a letter to Lt Governor Dan Patrick expressing opposition to HB 17. The Texas Press Association TPA requested a letter from PNRC opposing the bill. The bill would require local taxing entities to mail notices to property owners and not require notice in newspapers. TPA highlights the bill is a blow to property tax rate transparency and local government accountability for tax hikes. Ironically, it is being pushed by legislative leadership at the same time they are working to hold local taxing entities more accountable.
Surveys show that voters read their hometown paper, and nothing is of higher interest to them than information about their property taxes. These notices get NOTICED in the newspaper.
Mail notices alone would be expensive, unreliable, and unverifiable. There would be no accountability for the post office to prove that the notice arrived and did so within the required time period. A newspaper, on the other hand, publishes the notice both in print and digital formats on a date certain. And publication on that date is legally verified by the publisher’s affidavit.
A notice mailed only to property owners would not be seen by citizens who rent their homes, despite the fact that they pay taxes indirectly through their rental fees. If the governmental entity opts not to run a newspaper notice in addition to the mail piece, these citizens will be disenfranchised of critical tax information.

Texas HB1522

Relating to notice of a meeting held under the open meetings law.
This bill modifies the Texas Open Meetings Law by changing several requirements for public meeting notices. The bill extends the required notice period from 72 hours to three business days before a scheduled meeting and expands the notice requirements for meetings where budgets will be discussed. For budget-related meetings, the notice must now include either a physical copy of the proposed budget or clear online accessibility, as well as a taxpayer impact statement that compares the current year’s property tax bill to an estimated bill for the upcoming fiscal year for a median-valued homestead. This impact statement is required for most governmental bodies, with exceptions for general academic teaching institutions and university systems. The bill aims to increase transparency by providing more detailed information to the public about upcoming governmental meetings and potential budget changes. The changes will take effect on September 1, 2025, giving governmental bodies time to prepare for the new notice requirements. Signed by the Governor
House Bill 1522 updates the current 72-hour notice requirement to three business days, meaning weekends and holidays no longer count toward the minimum posting period. The new law is intended to give residents more time to review meeting agendas and participate in local government decisions, according to the bill analysis.

Montana

Montana HB394

Revise local government public notice and resolution requirements.
This bill revises various local government public notice and hearing requirements across multiple sections of Montana law, primarily standardizing and clarifying notice publication timelines and methods. The bill makes several key changes, including modifying how and when public notices must be published for municipal actions such as budget hearings, assessment resolutions, utility rate changes, zoning regulations, subdivision applications, and other local government proceedings. Specifically, the bill introduces more consistent notice requirements, often specifying that notices must be published as provided in section 7-1-4127, with most requiring publication at least 15 business days before a hearing or action. The changes aim to create more uniform and predictable public notice processes for local government actions, ensuring that residents have adequate time to be informed about and potentially participate in important local government decisions. The bill affects numerous sections of the Montana Code Annotated, touching on areas like municipal operations, taxation, zoning, subdivision regulations, and public infrastructure, with the overarching goal of improving transparency and public engagement in local government processes.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts H1632

Relative to legal advertisements in online-only newspapers
This bill modifies existing Massachusetts law regarding legal advertisements in online-only newspapers by expanding the ways these publications can satisfy legal notice requirements. Specifically, the bill allows online-only newspapers that do not have a print version to publish legal notices on their own website and a statewide website, which would now be considered a valid method of publication. Additionally, the bill provides protection for online-only newspapers by stipulating that certain technical errors or temporary website issues (such as outages or service interruptions) will not be considered a defect in publication, as long as the legal notice ultimately appears correctly on either the newspaper’s website or the statewide website and meets all other legal notice requirements.