New Jersey Governor Murphy Signs New Law Making Significant Reform to the State’s Requirements for the Publication or Advertisement of Legal Notices

Public Notice Publication Reform:  

On June 30, 2025, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill No. 4654, which makes significant changes to the requirements for publication and advertisement of legal notices by New Jersey governmental and public entities.

Prior to this new law, it had been well established that New Jersey governmental and public entities were required to publish legal notices in printed newspapers to afford the public notice and the ability to participate in hearings, meetings, applications, and solicitations. Under the new law, as of March 1, 2026, all New Jersey governmental and public entities will be required to publish or advertise legal notices on the municipality’s or entity’s official website. Specifically, the law states that “whenever a public entity is required by law or by order or rule of any court to publish or advertise a legal notice, the public entity shall publish or advertise the legal notice on the public entity’s official Internet website.” S.B. 4654, 221st Leg. § 2 (N.J. 2025). All notices shall be published or advertised on the entity’s website for at least a week, or such other time as required by law.

Under the new law, digital publication of such notices is optional until required on March 1, 2026. 

Online Notice:

In order to ensure that the notice is publicly accessible, the new law regulates how online notices shall be handled by New Jersey governmental and public entities under this reform.

All New Jersey governmental and public entities shall publish and/or advertise all legal notices on that entity’s official Internet website. Access to this website shall be free and publicly available. The law requires that a direct hyperlink to this website “be conspicuously placed on the website’s homepage.” N.J. S.B. 4654 at § 2. Entities must publish or advertise legal notices no less than twice a month.

Public entities must also advertise at least twice monthly in an eligible online news publication to inform the public where full legal notices may be viewed online and to provide a link to the Secretary of State’s central portal.

Additionally, the law requires that the State’s Secretary of State establish a website that will include “hyperlinks to the legal notices webpage of each public entity…” N.J. S.B. 4654 at § 2(b). This website “shall be accessible and available to the public free of charge and shall be accessible by direct hyperlink conspicuously placed on the Secretary of State’s Internet homepage.” N.J. S.B. 4654 at § 2(b). In order to ensure that the State’s website is accurate, all public entities must submit to the Secretary of State each hyperlink prior to effectuation.

Each New Jersey governmental and public entity must also maintain an internet archive of each legal notice no longer on display. Under the reform, all public entities must maintain the legal notices no longer displayed for at least one year. All entities must have an archive published for access no later than July 1, 2026. N.J. S.B. 4654 at § 2(c).

Notice By Non-Governmental Entities:

The Public Notice Publican Reform also impacts corporations, individuals, and other non-public entities that publish or advertise legal notices. Under the new law, corporations, individuals, and other non-public entities shall publish or advertise the legal notice on an online news publication. When selecting an online news publication, corporations, individuals, and other non-public entities shall rely on geographic targets.

Eligible Online Publications:

Effective January 1, 2026, governmental entities may, in addition to the publication on its official Internet website, advertise a legal notice in an “eligible online news publication”. The reform requires an online news publication to satisfy certain eligibility requirements in order to be used under the law. When publishing with an online news publication, the online news publication shall not exceed the rates established pursuant to R.S.35:2-1. To be an eligible online news publication shall:

  1. use a domain name for the Internet website that will be easily recognizable and understandable to users of the website as belonging to that online news publication;
  2. maintain the online news publication on the Internet in a manner that is fully accessible and searchable by members of the public at all times, other than during routine maintenance or circumstances outside of the operator’s control;
  3. ensure that legal notices published or advertised on the online news publication comply with the requirements that would apply to the legal notices if they were published in a physical newspaper;
  4. maintain an archive for at least one year of notices that are no longer displayed on the online news publication;
  5. display a legal notice for at least one week, or other time period as required by law, before placing it in archive;
  6. enable legal notices, both those currently displayed and those archived, to be accessed by keyword, by party name, by case number, by county, or other useful identifiers;
  7. maintain an adequate security system and develop a contingency plan for coping with and recovering from power outages, systemic failures, and other unforeseen circumstances;
  8. not charge a fee or require registration or a subscription to view legal notices;
  9. maintain media liability insurance of up to $1 million;
  10. have been in continuous operation for at least three years, which can be satisfied by the online news publication itself or by a company that has a controlling or majority interest in the online news publication; and
  11. provide the number of monthly unique website visits and monthly unique website visits by users in this State and in each county, as evidenced by IP address or other appropriate identifier, which shall be prominently displayed on the Internet homepage of the online news publication along with the criteria provided in this subsection, or a hyperlink to a webpage displaying such criteria, and whether the online news publication meets each criteria.

i. To qualify as an online news publication eligible to publish legal notices for municipal-wide circulation, the online news publication shall receive 4,000 unique monthly visits on average as calculated annually, no less than 50 percent of which shall be from IP addresses within the applicable municipality or within a 10-mile radius of the municipality.

ii. To qualify as an online news publication eligible to publish legal notices for county-wide circulation, the online news publication shall receive 50,000 unique monthly visits on average as calculated annually, no less than 50 percent of which shall be from IP addresses within the applicable county or within a 10-mile radius of the county.

iii. To qualify as an online news publication eligible to publish legal notices for State-wide circulation, the online news publication shall receive 350,000 unique monthly visits on average as calculated annually, no less than 50 percent of which shall be from IP addresses within the State. N.J.S.B. 4654 at § 3.

How to Prepare:

All New Jersey governmental and public entities should take steps to prepare themselves for this reform. In order to do so, each entity should work to establish a plan to implement a website to publish and advertise all legal notices in accordance with the new law. When creating this plan, entities should consider the requirements of the website. Additionally, each entity should plan to establish an archive website. Entities must establish a procedure to share each link and posting with the Secretary of State, as required by the law. Entities, such as municipalities, should consider reviewing their municipal code, policies, and procedures to ensure any and all appropriate changes are made to facilitate this publishing reform. 

If you have any questions and/or require assistance determining compliance, please do not hesitate to contact any member of this Firm.