Under the Open Public Meetings Act, public entities, including public libraries and their Boards, are required to publish meeting notices in print newspapers. This is becoming increasingly difficult because, in recent years, we have seen many local newspapers in New Jersey closing their doors or shifting to only on-line formats.
Most recently, The Star-Ledger announced that it will cease publishing a print newspaper on February 2, 2025 due to rising costs, decreasing circulation and reduced demand for print. Also, the Jersey Journal announced it is ceasing operations, as did the weekly Hunterdon County Democrat. In addition, Advance Local announced that it is ending print publication of its daily papers, The Times of Trenton and the South Jersey Times, although each will continue to produce daily on line versions of their papers. You likely have seen similar closures occurring in your area.
In response to this emerging problem, on December 31, 2024, Governor Murphy signed into law A-5151/S-3957, which allows public bodies to continue using newspapers for required public notices and legal advertisements until March 1, 2025. The new law took effect on December 31, 2024.
Specifically, the new law permits any newspaper used by a public body as the official newspaper from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, to still meet the definition of a newspaper under the law regardless of physical or digital format of the newspaper’s publication from January 1, 2025, to March 1, 2025. The publication could be in print or electronic format. This temporary fix applies to all public notices including but not limited to meeting notices, solicitation of bids, and publication of ordinances. The fee for publishing public notices cannot exceed the existing statutory rates. If electronic, newspapers cannot charge a fee or require registration to view the public or legal advertisements.
Therefore, as you prepare for your Board to pass a resolution in January designating its official newspapers for 2025, you can continue to rely on the same newspapers you used in 2024. Because the law is only a temporary interim step, we will need to monitor developments with the NJ legislature to see what longer term solution(s) they implement and whether they can approve something new by the March 1, 2025 deadline. If you have any questions regarding this, please don’t hesitate to contact us.