Some states require newspapers that qualify to publish notices to publish those same notices on their website and/or on their state press association’s statewide public notice website. Below is a compilation of the web posting laws from states that have approved one.
Updated June 1, 2023
Alabama
Section 6-8-62. Timing and duration of publication; Internet publication.
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(c) A newspaper publishing a notice shall also place the notice on an Internet website operated by the newspaper, if the newspaper publishes a website, and on a statewide website established and maintained by an entity having the capacity and ability to receive and upload legal notices from the majority of newspapers in this state as a repository for the notices. Posting on the Internet shall begin on the first day of insertion and run continuously until the expiration of the specified time. All newspaper notices required pursuant to this section to be placed on the Internet shall remain valid for all purposes, and the legality of the newspaper publication shall not be affected by the failure of the newspaper for any reason to upload legal notice publications to a statewide website or to another Internet website or to accurately post the notice publication on any website.
Colorado
24-70-103. Requisites of Legal Newspaper
(5) When any legal notice is required by law to be published in any newspaper, the newspaper publishing the notice shall, at no additional cost to the person or entity placing the notice, place the notice on a statewide web site established and maintained by an organization representing a majority of Colorado newspapers as a repository for the notices.
Florida
50.0211 Internet website publication
(1) This section applies to legal notices that must be published in accordance with this chapter unless otherwise specified.
(2) If a governmental agency publishes a legal notice in the print edition of a newspaper, each legal notice must be published on the newspaper’s website on the same day that the printed notice appears in the newspaper, at no additional charge, in a separate web page titled “Legal Notices,” “Legal Advertising,” or comparable identifying language. A link to the legal notices web page shall be provided on the front page of the newspaper’s website that provides access to the legal notices. If there is a specified size and placement required for a printed legal notice, the size and placement of the notice on the newspaper’s website must optimize its online visibility in keeping with the print requirements. The newspaper’s web pages that contain legal notices must present the legal notices as the dominant and leading subject matter of those pages. The newspaper’s website must contain a search function to facilitate searching the legal notices. A fee may not be charged, and registration may not be required, for viewing or searching legal notices on a newspaper’s website if the legal notice is published in a newspaper.
(3)(a) If a legal notice is published in the print edition of a newspaper, the newspaper publishing the notice shall place the notice on the statewide website established and maintained as an initiative of the Florida Press Association as a repository for such notices located at the following address: www.floridapublicnotices.com.
(b) A legal notice placed on the statewide website created under this subsection must be:
1. Accessible and searchable by party name and case number.
2. Posted for a period of at least 90 consecutive days after the first day of posting.
(c) The statewide website created under this subsection shall maintain a searchable archive of all legal notices posted on the publicly accessible website on or after October 1, 2014, for 18 months after the first day of posting. Such searchable archive shall be provided and accessible to the general public without charge.
Illinois
Sec. 2.1. Statewide website. Whenever notice by publication in a newspaper is required by law, order of court, or contract, the newspaper publishing the notice shall, at no additional cost to government, place the notice on the statewide website established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority of Illinois newspapers as a repository for such notices.
Sec. 3.1. When any notice is required by law, or order of court, to be published in any newspaper, publication of such notice shall include the printing of such notice in the total circulation of each edition on the date of publication of the newspaper in which the notice is published; and the newspaper publishing the notice shall, at no additional cost to government, place the notice on the statewide website established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority of Illinois newspapers as a repository for such notices. All notices required for publication by this Act shall remain legal and valid for all purposes when any error that occurs pursuant to the requirements of this Section for placement of the notice on the statewide website is the fault of the printer.
Indiana
IC 5-3-1-1.5 Posting notice on web site
Sec. 1.5. (a) This section applies to a notice that must be published in accordance with this chapter.
(b) If a newspaper or locality newspaper maintains an Internet web site, a notice that is published in the newspaper or locality newspaper must also be posted on the web site of the newspaper or locality newspaper. The notice must appear on the web site on the same day the notice appears in the newspaper or locality newspaper.
(c) The state board of accounts shall develop a standard form fo rnotices posted on a newspaper’s or locality newspaper’s Internet website.
(d) A newspaper or locality newspaper may not charge a fee for posting a notice on the newspaper’s or locality newspaper’s Internet web site under this section.
Louisiana
R.S. 43:111 State Advertisements.
E. Whenever notice by print publication is required under applicable state law, the newspaper or statutorily-eligible publication under Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of Title 43 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 that is publishing such notice shall, at no additional cost to government, place the notice on a website established and maintained as a statewide joint venture of a majority of Louisiana newspapers as a repository for such notices, subject to the following provisions:
(1) The newspaper or publication shall post the notice contemporaneously with the notice’s first print publication. The notice shall remain archived on the statewide website for not less than one year. Any newspaper or publication subject to the requirements of this Subsection shall have access to the statewide website at no charge.
(2) Any notice posted online as required by this Subsection shall be posted and archived in its entirety, including maps and other exhibits, and shall include the publication date.
(3) Any error in a notice placed on a website pursuant to this Subsection, or any temporary website outage or service interruption prohibiting the posting or display of such notice, shall be considered harmless error and proper legal notice requirements shall be considered met if the printed notice published in the newspaper or statutorily-eligible publication is correct.
(4) Every newspaper or publication that publishes public notices shall include on its website homepage, if available, a link to its public notice section and shall include on its public notice homepage a link to the statewide public notice website described herein.
(5) All notices published on a website pursuant to this Subsection shall be accessible to the public at no charge.
(6) Nothing in this Subsection shall be construed as changing any requirement in Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of Title 43 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950.
Maine
Title 1, Chapter 15, Subchapter 2, Sec. 603
Electronic notice
1. Electronic posting of legal notices. A legal notice appearing in a newspaper pursuant to section 601 must be placed on any publicly accessible website that the newspaper maintains in the following manner:
A. The legal notice must be placed on the newspaper’s publicly accessible website no later than the same day that it appears in the newspaper;
B. A link to legal notices must be provided on the home page of the newspaper’s publicly accessible website;
C. Legal notices appearing on the newspaper’s publicly accessible website must be presented in a clear and conspicuous manner and must be of sufficient size to be clearly readable;
D. Legal notices must be the dominant subject matter of the page on the newspaper’s publicly accessible website on which they are placed; and
E. Beginning on July 1, 2014, the newspaper’s publicly accessible website must have a search function allowing readers to search legal notices that appear on the website.
A newspaper may not charge an additional fee for placing a legal notice on the newspaper’s publicly accessible website or for submitting a legal notice to the electronic repository established pursuant to subsection 2.
2. Statewide repository for legal notices. Beginning July 1, 2014, a statewide association representing newspapers shall establish and maintain, at its own expense, a publicly accessible electronic repository for any legal notice appearing on a publicly accessible newspaper website in accordance with subsection 1. A newspaper publishing legal notices in accordance with section 601 shall submit the legal notice to the repository.
Beginning July 1, 2014, a newspaper that publishes legal notices in accordance with section 601 shall provide a link to the statewide repository for e-mail notification of any new legal notices added to any publicly accessible website that the newspaper maintains. E-mail notifications must be sent on the same day that the new legal notice appears on the newspaper’s publicly accessible website. A newspaper must prominently display information regarding the ability to receive e-mail notifications from the repository and the process for requesting such notifications on the page of the newspaper’s publicly accessible website where legal notices appear. The statewide association representing newspapers that establishes and maintains the publicly accessible electronic repository is responsible for providing e-mail notification of legal notices upon request and at no charge.
Massachusetts
Part I, Title I, Chapter 4, Section 13
Legal notices required to be published in newspapers; electronic publication
[Text of section added by 2016, 174, Sec. 1 effective January 21, 2017. See 2016, 174, Sec. 2.]
Section 13. (a) As used in this section, “statewide website” shall mean a website established and maintained as a repository for legal notices and operated as a cooperative effort of a majority of Massachusetts newspapers that distribute newspapers to subscribers residing in the commonwealth.
(b) If a person, corporation, state agency, including its political subdivisions, a state authority, including its political subdivisions, municipality, including its political subdivisions, or other legal entity is required by a statute, ordinance, by-law or judicial order to publish a legal notice in a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation, the person, corporation, agency, authority, municipality or other legal entity shall publish said notice in a newspaper which shall ensure that the legal notice appears in: (i) a newspaper’s print publication; (ii) on the newspaper’s website; and (iii) on a statewide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices; provided, however, that if a newspaper does not maintain its own website, publication on a statewide website and reference to the statewide website in the print publication notice shall satisfy the requirement of publication on the newspaper’s website.
(c) When publishing legal notices on a newspaper’s website or a statewide website, the operator of the website shall:
(i) ensure access by the public to the website at all times, other than during website maintenance or due to causes beyond the operator’s control;
(ii) make the full text of legal notices available in a searchable format for the period of time that the legal notice is required to be posted;
(iii) ensure that the website substantially complies with the accessibility standards of section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended and codified at 29 U.S.C. section 794d;
(iv) provide access to view legal notices on the website, and to perform searches for legal notices on such websites, for no fee; provided, that operators of newspaper websites may charge a fee for enhanced search and customized content delivery features;
(v) maintain an archive of legal notices that are no longer displayed on the website for at least 90 days; and
(vi) charge no additional fee for publication on a website in excess of the fee for publishing the legal notice in the print newspaper.
(d) An error in a legal notice published on a newspaper’s website or the statewide website that is the result of (i) an error of the website operator; or (ii) a temporary website outage or service interruption that prevents the publication or display of a legal notice on the website shall not constitute a defect in publication of the legal notice; provided, however, that the legal notice appears correctly in the newspaper’s print publication and satisfies all other legal notice requirements.
Michigan
Chapter 691, Act 247 of 1963, Section 691.1051(2)
(2) A person that operates a newspaper in which a notice is published under this section shall do both of the following, at no additional cost beyond what the person charges for the print publication:
(a) Within 72 hours of receipt of a request to publish a notice, provide access to the notice on the website of the newspaper. The website must satisfy all of the following requirements:
(i) The website homepage must have a link that takes a viewer to an area of the website where notices published under this section are available for viewing. This area of the website cannot be placed behind any sort of pay wall and the public must be able to read the notices at no charge.
(ii) Notices published under this section must remain on the website during the full required publication period.
(iii) Notices published under this section must remain searchable on the website as a permanent record of the publication.
(b) Place the notice on a website that is established and maintained by a state association of newspapers that represents a majority of newspapers in this state as a comprehensive central repository for notices published under this section throughout this state. The website must do all of the following:
(i) Provide for searching for a notice published under this section by criteria contained in the notice.
(ii) Maintain all notices published under this section on a permanent basis.
(iii) Provide access through standard computer browsers and mobile platforms, such as smartphones and tablets.
(iv) Provide a method to alert the public of notices published under this section by text message or email notification, or both.
(3) An error or omission in the posting of a notice on the internet under subsection (2) does not invalidate the notice published in the print version of the newspaper.
Minnesota
Section 331A.02, Subd. 5. Posting notices on Web site.
Posting notices on website. If, in the normal course of its business, a qualified newspaper maintains a website, then as a condition of accepting and publishing public notices, the newspaper must agree to post all the notices on its website and on the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s statewide public notice website, at no additional cost to the advertiser. The newspaper’s website must include a link to its online public notices section, the contents of which must be accessible at no cost to the public. Each notice must remain on the website during the notice’s full publication period. Failure to post or maintain a public notice on the newspaper’s website or to post a public notice on the statewide public notice website does not affect the validity of the public notice.
Nebraska
Beginning October 1, 2022, all legal publications and notices of whatever kind or character that may by law be required to be published a certain number of days or a certain number of weeks shall also be posted by the newspaper publishing such legal publications or notices on a statewide website established and maintained as a repository for such notices by a majority of Nebraska newspapers. A website posting or a failure to make such website posting under this subsection shall not affect the validity of the publication or notice published under subsection (1) of this section.
North Dakota
46.05 Publication of legal notices on website.
When a legal notice is required by law to be published in a newspaper, the newspaper also shall publish the notice on a statewide legal notices website maintained by the North Dakota newspaper association and on the newspaper’s website in a location open and free to the public, if the newspaper maintains a website, at no additional cost to the entity placing the notice. If an insubstantial error in the notice occurs as a result of placement on the website and the error is the fault of the newspaper, the error does not affect the validity and effectiveness of the notice.
Ohio
125.182 State public notice web site.
(A) An Ohio trade association that represents the majority of newspapers of general circulation as defined in section 7.12 of the Revised Code shall operate and maintain the official public notice web site.
Not later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this section, in all cases in which a notice or advertisement is required by a section of the Revised Code or an administrative rule to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, or in a daily law journal as required by section 2701.09 of the Revised Code, the notice or advertisement also shall be posted on the official public notice web site by the publisher of the newspaper or journal.
The operator of the official public notice web site shall:
(1) Use a domain name for the web site that will be easily recognizable and remembered by and understandable to users of the web site;
(2) Maintain the web site on the internet so that it is fully accessible to and searchable by members of the public at all times, other than during maintenance or acts of God outside the operator’s control;
(3) Not charge a fee to a person that accesses the web site to view notices or advertisements or to perform searches of the web site, provided that the operator may charge a fee for enhanced search and customized content delivery features;
(4) Not charge a fee to a state agency or political subdivision for publishing a notice or advertisement on the web site;
(5) Ensure that notices and advertisements displayed on the web site conform to the requirements that would apply to the notices and advertisements if they were being published in a newspaper, as directed in section 7.16 of the Revised Code or in the relevant provision of the statute or rule that requires the notice;
(6) Ensure that notices and advertisements continue to be displayed on the web site for not less than the length of time required by the relevant provision of the statute or rule that requires the notice or advertisement;
(7) Maintain an archive of notices and advertisements that no longer are displayed on the web site;
(8) Enable notices and advertisements, both those currently displayed and those archived, to be accessed by key word, by party name, by case number, by county, and by other useful identifiers;
(9) Maintain adequate systemic security and backup features, and develop and maintain a contingency plan for coping with and recovering from power outages, systemic failures, and other unforeseeable difficulties;
(10) Provide access to the web site to the publisher of any Ohio newspaper or daily law journal that qualifies under the Revised Code to publish notices and advertisements, for the posting of notices and advertisements at no cost, or for a reasonable, uniform fee for the service; and
(11) Provide, if requested, a regularly scheduled feed or similar data transfer to the department of administrative services of notices and advertisements posted on the web site, provided that the operator of the web site shall not be required to provide the feed or transfer more often than once every business day.
(B) An error in a notice or advertisement posted on the official public notice web site, or a temporary web site outage or service interruption preventing the posting or display of a notice or advertisement on that web site, does not constitute a defect in making legal publication of the notice or advertisement, and publication requirements shall be considered met if the notice or advertisement published in the newspaper or daily law journal is correct.
(C) The official public notice web site shall not contain any political publications or political advertising described in division (A)(1)(a), (b), or (c) of section 3517.20 of the Revised Code.
(D) The publisher of a newspaper of general circulation or of a daily law journal that maintains a web site shall include on its web site a link to the official public notice web site.
South Dakota
17-2-1. Notices to be published in legal newspaper
All legal and other official notices must be published in a legal newspaper as described in this chapter. When any legal notice is required by law to be published in any newspaper, the newspaper publishing the notice shall place the notice on a statewide website, established and maintained as a repository for such notices by an organization representing a majority of South Dakota newspapers.
The newspaper shall include a prominent link to the statewide website on the newspaper’s website homepage or post all public notices to the newspaper’s website in a manner that is accessible and free to the public, if the newspaper maintains a website.
17-2-28. If the publication of any notice, minutes, bids, document, or other information is required by law by the state or any municipality, county, or school district, the public notice must bear inscriptions that list the approximate cost of the newspaper publication and that the notice may be viewed free of charge on a statewide public notice website maintained pursuant to § 17-2-1.
Tennessee
(a) Beginning April 1, 2014, in all cases where a public notice or legal notice is required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, the newspaper shall for the same price post the complete notice:
(1) On the newspaper’s web site, where it shall be published contemporaneously with the notice’s first print publication and will remain on the web site for at least as long as the notice appears in the newspaper; and
(2) On a statewide web site established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority of Tennessee newspapers as a repository for such notices and will remain on the repository web site for at least as long as it appears in the newspaper. Any newspaper of general circulation that meets the criteria of this subsection (a) shall have access to the statewide web site at no charge.
(b) Any such notice shall be published online in its entirety, including maps and other exhibits, and shall include the date on which it was first printed in the newspaper.
(c) An error in a notice placed on the newspaper web site or statewide web site, or temporary web site outages or service interruptions prohibiting the posting or display of such notice shall be considered harmless error and proper legal notice requirements shall be considered met if the notice published in the newspaper is correct.
(d) Each newspaper of general circulation publishing public notices shall include on its web site home page a link to its public notice section and shall include on its public notice home page a link to the statewide public notice web site.
(e) Any notice published on a web site pursuant to subdivisions (a)(1) and (2) shall be accessible to the public at no charge.
Texas
Sec. 2051.054. INTERNET PUBLICATION OF NOTICES.
(a) Subsections (b)(2) and (c) apply only if the Texas Press Association maintains an Internet website as a statewide repository of notices.
(b) A newspaper that publishes a notice shall, at no additional cost to the governmental entity placing the notice:
(1) publish the notice on one or more webpages on the newspaper’s Internet website, if the newspaper maintains a website, that are:
(A) clearly designated for notices; and
(B) accessible to the public at no cost; and
(2) deliver the notice to the Texas Press Association for the association to publish on the association’s Internet website described by Subsection (a).
(c) The Texas Press Association shall publish each notice it receives from a newspaper under Subsection (b)(2) on the association’s Internet website described by Subsection (a). The association must ensure that the website:
(1) is accessible to the public at no cost;
(2) is updated as notices are received;
(3) is searchable and sortable by subject matter, location, and both subject matter and location; and
(4) offers an e-mail notification service to which a person may electronically subscribe to receive notifications that a notice has been published on the website and that allows the subscriber to limit the notifications by subject matter, location, or both subject matter and location.
(d) A person required to publish a notice on an Internet website under this section shall archive the notice on the website in its entirety, including the date the notice is published.
(e) The validity of a notice printed in a newspaper and published on an Internet website under this section is not affected if:
(1) there is an error in the notice published on the website; or
(2) publication of the notice on the website is temporarily prevented as the result of a technical issue with the website.
Utah
45-1-101. Legal notice publication requirements.
(1) As used in this section:
(d)(i) “Legal notice” means:
(A) a communication required to be made public by a state statute or state agency rule; or
(B) a notice required for judicial proceedings or by judicial decision.
(d)(ii) “Legal notice” does not include:
(A) a public notice published by a public body in accordance with the provisions of Sections 52-4-202 and 63F-1-701; or
(B) a notice of delinquency in the payment of property taxes described in Section 59-2-1332.5.
(f) “Public legal notice website” means the website described in Subsection (2)(b) for the purpose of publishing a legal notice online.
(2) Except as provided in Subsections (8) and (9), notwithstanding any other legal notice provision established by law, a person required by law to publish legal notice shall publish the notice:
(a) as required by the statute establishing the legal notice requirement; and
(b) on a public legal notice website established by the combined efforts of Utah’s newspapers that collectively distribute newspapers to the majority of newspaper subscribers in the state.
(3) The public legal notice website shall:
(a) be available for viewing and searching by the general public, free of charge; and
(b) accept legal notice posting from any newspaper in the state.
(5) If legal notice is required by law to be published in a newspaper, or if a local district or a special service district publishes legal notice in a newspaper, the newspaper:
(b) shall publish the legal notice on the public legal notice website at no additional cost.
(6) If legal notice is not required by law to be published in a newspaper, or if a local district or a special service district with an annual operating budget of less than $250,000 chooses to publish a legal notice on the public notice website without publishing the complete notice in the newspaper, a newspaper:
(a) may not charge more than an amount equal to 15% of the newspaper’s average advertisement rate for publishing five column lines in the newspaper to publish legal notice on the public legal notice website;
(b) may not require that the legal notice be published in the newspaper; and
(c) at the request of the person publishing on the legal notice website, shall publish in the newspaper up to five column lines, at no additional charge, that briefly describe the legal notice and provide the web address where the full public legal notice can be found.
(7) If a newspaper offers to publish the type of legal notice described in Subsection (5), it may not refuse to publish the type of legal notice described in Subsection (6).
(8) Notwithstanding the requirements of a statute that requires the publication of legal notice, if legal notice is required by law to be published by a local district or a special service district with an annual operating budget of $250,000 or more, the local district or special service district shall satisfy its legal notice publishing requirements by:
(a) mailing a written notice, postage prepaid:
(i) to each voter in the local district or special service district; and
(ii) that contains the information required by the statute that requires the publication of legal notice; or
(b) publishing the legal notice in a newspaper and on the legal public notice website as described in Subsection (5).
(9) Notwithstanding the requirements of a statute that requires the publication of legal notice, if legal notice is required by law to be published by a local district or a special service district with an annual operating budget of less than $250,000, the local district or special service district shall satisfy its legal notice publishing requirements by:
(a) mailing a written notice, postage prepaid:
(i) to each voter in the local district or special service district; and
(ii) that contains the information required by the statute that requires the publication of legal notice; or
(b) publishing the legal notice in a newspaper and on the public legal notice website as described in Subsection (5); or
(c) publishing the legal notice on the public legal notice website as described in Subsection (6).
Virginia
8.01-324 (G). In all cases in which an ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement is required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, the newspaper shall (i) post the complete notice on the newspaper’s website, if a website is published by such newspaper, where it shall be posted contemporaneously with the notice’s first print publication and shall remain on the website for at least as long as the notice appears in such newspaper; (ii) include on its website homepage a link to its public notice section; and (iii) post the complete notice on a searchable, statewide repository website, established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority of Virginia newspapers as a repository for such notices, where it shall remain on such repository website for at least as long as it appears in the newspaper. Any notice published on a website pursuant to this section shall be accessible to the public at no charge.
8.01-324 (H). An error in a notice placed on a newspaper website or statewide website, or temporary website outages or service interruptions prohibiting the posting or display of such notice, shall be considered harmless error, and proper legal notice requirements shall be considered met if the notice published in the newspaper otherwise complies with the requirements for publication.
Wisconsin
Chapter 985. Publication Of Legal Notices; Public Newspapers; Fees
985.01 (7) “Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site” means an Internet site maintained by Wisconsin newspapers for the purpose of providing and maintaining an electronic version of printed and published legal notices.
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985.02 (3) The newspaper that publishes a legal notice shall, in addition to newspaper publication, place an electronic copy of the legal notice at no additional charge on the publishing newspaper’s Internet site and on the Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site. Every newspaper that publishes legal notices shall have an Internet site and include on its home page a prominent link to the newspaper’s legal notices section, the contents of which shall be available for viewing at no cost to the public. The newspaper’s Internet legal notice section shall include a link to the Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site, as defined in s. 985.01 (7).