SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT, WAGERING, TOURISM & HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3744

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 11, 2026

      The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3744.

      As amended by the committee, this bill establishes advertising set-asides for eligible local news organizations.

      Under current law, State bid solicitations are required to be advertised unless the solicitation meets certain qualifications for exemption from advertisement.  This bill provides that every State agency required to advertise bid solicitations must allocate at least 30 percent of its total advertising spending for eligible local news organizations, except for State agencies that demonstrate the need to spend less than 30 percent of their advertising budget in-State, in which case at least 50 percent of that in-State spend must be spent with eligible local news organizations.

      A State agency may apply for an exemption from the requirements of the bill upon showing to the Department of the Treasury that the purposes of the advertising are inconsistent with placement in an eligible local news organization publication.

      The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium will be required to create and maintain a list of eligible local news organizations.  The Department of the Treasury will be required to publish on its Internet website the criteria to qualify as an eligible local news organization no later than three months after the effective date of the bill.

      The bill provides that any advertising or marketing agency that contracts with the State will report to the contracting State agency the total amount of advertising spending on at least a quarterly basis.  Beginning one year after the fiscal year next following the effective date of the bill, every State agency will be required to report certain advertising spending information to the Department of the Treasury.  Within two years after the end of the fiscal year next following the effective date of the bill, the Department of the Treasury will be required to publish a cumulative report of certain advertising spending information for the State on its Internet website.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1) clarify that bill establishes advertising set-asides;

      (2) define the term “advertising” as the discretionary use of media to promote products, programs, or services, regardless of the medium employed;

      (3) specify that, for State agencies that demonstrate the need to spend less than 30 percent of their advertising budget in-State, at least 50 percent of that in-State spend must be spent with eligible local news organizations; and

      (4) make technical changes.