ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5343

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  FEBRUARY 20, 2025

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5343.

      Under current law, a newspaper utilized, or permitted to be utilized, by a person or public body, as defined in section 3 of the "Open Public Meetings Act," P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-8), from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024 for the purpose of complying with any requirements for issuing or publishing a public notice or legal advertisement, including, but not limited to, for providing adequate notice of a meeting, the solicitation of bids, qualifications, or proposals, or the publication of any ordinances, synopses, or summaries of official documents, is deemed eligible for the same purposes from January 1, 2025 to March 1, 2025 if the newspaper’s publication is in print or electronic format. 

      This bill amends that law to provide that public bodies may continue using qualifying newspapers for required public notices and legal advertisements until June 30, 2025 regardless of format.

      The bill also requires a newspaper or online news publication that provides public notice or legal advertising services to a public body for the purposes of the public body complying with the public notice and legal advertisement requirements pursuant to P.L.2024, c.106, to submit certain data to the Governor and the Office of Public Information in the Office of Legislative Services for distribution to the membership of the Legislative Services Commission. The data is required to include information on the newspaper’s or online news publication’s:

      (1)  number of paid digital subscriptions, by each public body;

      (2)  number of unpaid digital or print subscriptions, by each public body;

      (3)  number of newspapers sold each day by retailers;

      (4)  amounts billed for the publication of public notices and legal advertisements in print or electronic format from 2020-2024 by each public body; 

      (5)  average retail price of digital and print subscriptions;

      (6)  number of daily page views for the webpage on the online news publication’s Internet website where public notices and legal advertisements are published from January 1, 2024 through the effective date of this bill; and

      (7)  any other information as may be requested by the Legislative Services Commission within deadlines to be determined by the commission.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

The committee amended the bill to:

· change the date that public bodies may continue using qualifying newspapers for required public notices and legal advertisements from March 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025, regardless of format; and

· require a newspaper or online news publication that provides public notice or legal advertising services to a public body for the purposes of the public body complying with the public notice and legal advertisement requirements pursuant to P.L.2024, c.106, to submit certain subscription data to the Governor and the Office of Public Information in the Office of Legislative Services for distribution to the membership of the Legislative Services Commission.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill is not certified as requiring a fiscal note.