HAT TIP: Legal Notices Online
N.J. Bill (S2072) to permit on line publishing of legal notices scheduled for Jan. 9 $70 mill. potential savings stated
N.J. Bill (S2072) to permit on line publishing of legal notices
NJ lawmakers have proposed on Monday, January 9, a vote on bill S2072 called the Electronic Publication of Legal Notices Act, which would permit local municipalities to post legal notices on their own web sites saving anywhere from $20 million -$70 million, it was reported on nj.com . As reported here version of this bill was approved last February by the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee according the the Star Ledger . The gist of this bill is "Whenever a government agency or an individual is required by law to publish a legal notice in one or more newspapers, the government agency or individual may cause the required notice to be published on an official government notice website instead of a newspaper ..."
The bill doesn't address the key argument put forth by newspapers (independence) . If the government is hosting the notices and they have an interest in keeping something secret it isn't the case of the fox guarding the hen-house?
That said, this bill has been improved somewhat.
- the government must provide an affidavit of publication when requested free of charge
- if someone is unable to access the internet they can call up and request a hard copy of the notice
- the government must announce each year that they will be publishing notices on line.
The best quote from the bill still stands
"Many legal notices published solely in newspapers go unread and unnoticed by the public because casual newspaper readers generally do not read the legal notice section."
A perfect non-government run site could be provided by http://free-public-notice.com/
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