Public notice threats seem to be growing
In several states, legislators are introducing bills to allow (or require) governments to publish these official notices only on government websites or electronic platforms instead of in newspapers.
Critics — including newspaper associations, press advocates, and many transparency advocates — argue that removing newspaper publication threatens government transparency and public accountability.
The PNRC is watching this trend closely and we stand willing to help states facing these potential threats.
INDIANA
House Bill 1210 is a bill addressing several aspects of local government finances, including local income tax structures and budgets. The bill also includes language that would make the publishing of local and state government public notices optional in newspapers. Governments would have the option to publish in the print or electronic edition of a newspaper, the print or electronic edition of a locality newspaper, or on the respective government’s website, effective July 1. HB 1210 spans more than 500 pages and covers many unrelated issues.
The Bill passed but the effective date moved from 7/1/26 to 7/1/27. Stakeholders will pull together publishers, legislators, and leaders of local govt entities to serve on a committee to improve and modernize the public notice process over the summer – fall months. The goal is to keep newspapers as an integral part of the process. We will use Kentucky’s success as a guide for Indiana.
IOWA
IA SF2434 A bill for an act relating to local government, including the approval of action by ordinance and posting of public notices, and including applicability provisions.
This bill mandates that any internal policies or rules created by departments, offices, or subunits of counties or cities must first be submitted to and approved by the respective board of supervisors or city council through an ordinance, which must also include a cost analysis detailing impacts on taxpayers and businesses, and be made publicly accessible online. Additionally, the bill requires all statutorily mandated public notices to be posted on a statewide public notice internet site, effectively shifting the primary method of public notification from newspapers to online platforms for governmental entities.
MISSISSIPPI
MS SB2893 Land use/zoning changes by local governments; revise procedure and time limitations.
This bill revises the procedures and timelines for local governments in Mississippi to make zoning changes and for individuals to appeal those decisions. Specifically, it mandates that notice of public hearings for zoning changes must be published on three popular social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and X) and in a local newspaper, both 30 days and 15 days before the hearing, in addition to making proposed changes available for public review at the local government office and library, and on the government’s website if one exists, at least 30 days prior to the hearing. Furthermore, the bill extends the time limit for appealing a decision by a county board of supervisors or a municipal governing authority regarding zoning matters from 10 days to 20 days after the decision is rendered and requires a copy of the zoning appeal to be filed with the city clerk or chancery clerk.
Tomorrow is deadline for committee action in the House on SB 2893. It was double-referred and still has to make it through the Accountability Ethics and Transparency Committee before then. We have proposed amendments that would restore the language “newspaper of general circulation” as opposed to “local, official newspaper” language that is not even defined in the statutes.
This bill will look either very different (only Facebook survives in the current version of it) or go away for the session because time runs out. Oddly enough, the bill increases the number of newspaper runs required from one to two, but we are far more concerned about the change in language, which opens up a loophole for counties without a newspaper.
Colorado
House Bill 26-1095 Would allow public notices to be satisfied solely by posting them on government websites in certain circumstances.
That should not be allowed in any circumstance.
Public notice exists to protect the public. It informs residents about zoning changes, property tax increases, special district elections, annexations, construction bids, water rulings, foreclosure proceedings, and other actions that directly affect property, neighborhoods, and taxes. It is not simply about putting information somewhere online. It is a carefully constructed legal safeguard built on independence, permanence, verifiability, and accessibility.
At the heart of public notice law is a simple principle: governments must inform the public through independent platforms they do not control.
Allowing a government entity to declare its own website legally sufficient turns that safeguard upside down. It puts the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Colorado already has a modern system. Legal newspapers publish notices in print and online, and every notice is uploaded to a free, searchable statewide website. That system combines local visibility, digital access, and independent verification.
If you have a public notice story
or a bill that may be of interest.
Please send information to
Jim Tarrant at admin@pnrc.net.
Public notices would still be published in KY newspapers under bill carried by GOP leader
By: McKenna Horsley – February 11, 2026
FRANKFORT — Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Givens is sponsoring a bill that would resolve a battle between Kentucky newspapers and local governments over legal advertisements.
Senate Bill 141 is backed by the Kentucky Press Association, the Kentucky League of Cities and the Kentucky Association of Counties. If enacted by the General Assembly, the measure would update Kentucky’s laws regarding public notices, also called legal ads.
SB 141
The bill passed out of the Senate State and Local Government Committee with bipartisan support Wednesday morning. It now awaits a floor vote in the Senate.
Many government agencies are required to issue a range of public notices in the local newspaper of record, including meeting notices, changes to tax rates, competitive bid solicitations, proposed ordinances, master commissioner sales, estate filings and utility rate increases.
Some local officials have questioned why taxpayer dollars should be spent on legal ads when they could be posted for free on government websites. Newspapers and advocates for open government counter that government transparency and the public interest demand that a neutral third party be responsible for publishing the notices and that not everyone has access to a computer. The controversy arose as newspapers face financial strains, consolidations and closures in recent years.
“We’re celebrating something that doesn’t always happen in Frankfort, and that’s agreement,” Givens recently told reporters.
Givens said the bill is “an agreement between local governments at the county and city level and the press association about what notices should be published and what the cost should be.” He added that concerns about citizens having access to information are valid, and so are concerns about taxpayers’ money spent on public notices.
“I give credit to Kentucky Press Association, Kentucky League of Cities and Kentucky Association of Counties, as they came together and found a way to achieve the best possible answer to a question where there was some conflict initially, so I’m excited about it going forward,” Givens said.
Among the changes proposed in SB 141, newspapers of record must publish a legal ad in the first print edition after receiving it from a government agency or within seven days of receiving the ad, whichever is first. Newspapers must also publish the ads online within 24 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) on the papers’ websites and the press association’s kypublicnotice.com.
Legislation on legal ads has been filed in recent years, though the bills have not been passed by the General Assembly. Last year, a bill that would have allowed local governments to publish some notices on their own website and bypass the paper of record was filed but did not get a committee hearing.
Mike Scogin, the president of the Kentucky Press Association (KPA), said the legislation is “truly a win-win bill for all of Kentucky.” The notices will still be in print and must be online.
“There were compromises on all sides, but ultimately, I believe we have a bill that benefits everyone, especially the public,” he said. “We are grateful to Sen. Givens for sponsoring the bill. The legislation has strong support and is truly an example of a group of civic-minded organizations working together for the public’s best interests.”
In a statement, the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) told the Lantern it appreciated the work by all parties “to reach a compromise that preserves transparency and public notice while continuing our efforts to modernize outdated processes.”
“We believe SB 141 strikes a good balance among the shared goals of having public notices reach the most constituents while also working to preserve limited public resources,” KLC said.
Shellie Hampton, the director of government affairs for the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo), also said the bill was “a collaborative effort” between the organizations “to balance local government public notice requirements in an increasingly digital age, while working through cost-effective options that preserve transparency, provide the same level of public information, and help reduce costs to taxpayers.”
“We appreciate the efforts of KPA and KLC for their work to reach consensus,” Hampton said. “We are grateful to Sen. David Givens for sponsoring the bill on our behalf and we look forward to seeing it through.”
The Kentucky Lantern is a member of the Kentucky Press Association.
House committee OKs update to public notice advertisements
Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus – February 10, 2026 | 11:26 AM
HARRISBURG, Feb. 10 – Local governments and school districts would be able to publish their public notices in digital newspapers and free publications if no print newspapers are still published in their area, under legislation approved by the PA House Local Government Committee, according to prime sponsor state Rep. Robert Freeman.
State law currently requires municipalities and school districts to publish public notices in newspapers of general circulation, which by law must be in print. With fewer and fewer print newspapers remaining, it is difficult for local governments to meet the current statutory requirement for legal notices.
Freeman’s legislation would update the state’s nearly 50-year-old Newspaper Advertising Act to require that public notices continue to be published in print newspapers of general circulation, but if such a newspaper does not exist, the notice could be published in a digital newspaper of general circulation that is the decedent of a printed newspaper, an online-only newspaper, or a free newspaper.
“The changes proposed in my bill are consistent with various recent public notice statutes adopted across the nation and will update our public notice law while ensuring Pennsylvanians can continue to find public notices in their trusted local newspapers, a disinterested, third-party whose constitutional role is to hold government accountable,” said Freeman, D-Northampton.
“As more newspapers expand digital platforms and many rural areas and certain demographics within the state struggle with limited internet access, this definition should be broadened to address the circumstances of all Pennsylvanians so that public notices reach as many people as possible.”
Under the bill, a “digital newspaper” would be an online newspaper formatted similarly to a printed newspaper which must meet specific statutory criteria regarding its purpose and its ties to the community or be a digital descendant of a printed newspaper. A “free newspaper” would be a printed newspaper published without charge that would also have to fit certain statutory criteria regarding its content. An “online-only newspaper” would be a newspaper that is available to the public exclusively online or digitally and must also meet additional statutory criteria.
Print and free newspapers would also have to maintain a website and post public notices online and in front of a paywall. Newspapers would also be required to post public notices on the statewide publicly accessible website maintained by the Pennsylvania News Media Association.
The bill also would require municipalities and school districts to adopt a resolution at a public meeting declaring which newspaper of general circulation they will be using to carry their public notice advertisements.
House Bill 1291 awaits action by the full House of Representatives.
https://www.pahouse.com/InTheNews/NewsRelease/?id=142258
Alaska News
Public notice error forces delay in federal oil lease sale in National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
By Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon February 11, 2025
A federal oil and gas lease sale in Alaska that was to have been held in early March has now been postponed for nine days because of public notice mistakes.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Tuesday it has rescheduled its planned lease sale for 5.5 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The sale would have been on March 9 but will now be held on March 18, the BLM said.
A legally required Federal Register notice failed to publish as scheduled last week. The BLM has reissued the notice and said it is now scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.
Federal law requires such published notices at least 30 days before lease sales.
This is the first of five NPR-A lease sales mandated under the sweeping budget and tax bill called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The act, passed and signed into law last summer, requires at least five NPR-A lease sales, each offering at least 4 million acres, to be held by 2035.
It is also the first NPR-A lease sale scheduled since 2019, under the first Trump administration, and the first conducted under a new Trump administration management plan that opened long-protected areas of the reserve to leasing.
The Trump plan makes 82% of the 23-million-acre reserve available for leasing, including areas in and around Teshekpuk Lake, the largest North Slope lake and habitat for migratory birds, a caribou herd and other Arctic wildlife. Under an Obama administration plan that was in place until now, about half of the reserve was available for leasing and the Teshekpuk Lake area was among five designated “special areas” protected from development.
A new lawsuit is pending over the Trump administration’s decision to strip protections for the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd and its habitat. That lawsuit was filed by an organization in Nuiqsut, the Inupiat village closest to existing NPR-A development. The organization, representing Nuiqsut’s city and tribal governments and for-profit village corporation, had negotiated a conservation agreement that was signed by the Biden administration in late 2024; in December, the Trump administration canceled the agreement.
Exactly what acreage will be auctioned off in the March 18 lease sale was not clear as of Tuesday morning. Details of the sale have not yet been posted on the BLM’s NPR-A website as of then.
Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2026/02/10/public-notice-error-forces-delay-in-federal-oil-lease-sale-in-national-petroleum-reserve-alaska/