On June 30, 2025, Governor Murphy signed into law new requirements for the publication of legal notices. Under the new law, as set forth in N.J.S. 35:3-1 et seq., legal notice publication by both public entities and private entities that were once required to be published in print newspapers must be published on official digital platforms. The new law aims to preserve transparency, reduce costs and improve public access to essential legal notices in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Background:
Historically, legal notices in New Jersey were required to be published in local or regional print newspapers, for matters such as public bids, ordinances, foreclosures, governmental meetings and land use applications. Many have argued publication in the print newspaper is costly, outdated, has limited reach, and fails to reflect a modern approach to information consumption.
Key Points:
- While the law became effective on July 1, 2025, mandatory digital publication of legal notices does not take effect until March 1, 2026. Prior to the mandatory effective date, the publication of notices in print newspapers remains valid.
- Both public and private entities alike are subject to the requirements of the statute, and where digital publication is properly made, the public entity or private entity shall be deemed to have satisfied their legal obligations to provide legal notice upon publication. A public entity or private entity may also publish in a print newspaper of general circulation along with the required eligible online new publication.
Public Entities:
- A public entity is required to publish or advertise the legal notice on the public entity’s official Internet website which website shall be accessible and available to the public free of charge. The public entity is further required to provide a direct hyperlink to the legal notices published on the public entity’s official website homepage.
- The Secretary of State shall establish an Internet webpage on which shall be included hyperlinks to the legal notices webpage of each public entity created pursuant to statute, which webpage shall be accessible and available to the public free of charge and shall be accessible on the Secretary of State’s Internet homepage.
- A public entity shall display a legal notice on its legal notices Internet webpage for at least one week, or other time period as required by law, before transferring the publication to the public entity’s Internet archive.
- A public entity shall maintain an Internet archive of legal notices that are no longer displayed, which shall be kept for at least one year.
Private Entities:
- Whenever a corporation, individual, or any other entity that is not a public entity is required by law or by the order or rule of any court to publish or advertise a legal notice, the corporation, individual, or other entity shall publish or advertise the legal notice on an online news publication that satisfies the requirements of the statute based on the geographic target as established or implied under the law, court order, or court rule requiring publication.
- Legal notices may be published on an online news website that meets certain criteria set forth in the statute including that the online news website must be easily recognizable as belonging to a news publication; be publicly accessible on the internet 24/7 without a paywall; be updated at least once a week with original news content; maintain an archive of published legal notices for a minimum of one year; provide proof of publication for each notice; ensure that legal notices published comply with the requirements that would apply to the legal notices if they were published in a physical newspaper; new publication has been in continuous operation for at least three years; and must meet certain requirements as to monthly visits to the web site and have a certain range applicable to the municipality.
- Unless otherwise provided pursuant to applicable law or court rule or order, an online news publication that receives a legal notice for publication pursuant to this section shall publish the notice within 24 hours of receipt.
Applicability to New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL), N.J.S. 40:55D:
While the public notice as required by the MLUL will now be published on a public entity website and/or eligible online news publication website, the MLUL notice requirements essentially remain unchanged:
- No change in the requirement to provide notice within ten (10) days of the Board hearing date.
- No change to serve adjacent property owners within 200 feet with notice by way of certified mail.
- No change in providing proof of publication, and certified mailings to the Board prior to hearing date.
Conclusion:
The new public notice provisions will require municipalities, land use applicants and land use practitioners to revamp their internal notice procedures to ensure compliance with the statute and the MLUL. It will be important for practitioners to understand the process, including how to post public notices and to maintain records of the digital public notices so as to provide proof of notice where required. The statute modernizes the approach to legal notice requirements, providing further transparency, efficiency and reach to the public at large but requires a new and careful approach to ensure that land use applications and approvals are fully compliant with the new law.
We encourage private and public entities to seek legal counsel to ensure complete adherence to the new law.