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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| SENATE BILL |
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| INTRODUCED BY ROBBINS, SCARNATI, ERICKSON, FERLO, FOLMER, FONTANA, ORIE, PICCOLA AND SMUCKER, MARCH 8, 2011 |
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| REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MARCH 8, 2011 |
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| AN ACT |
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1 | Amending Title 45 (Legal Notices) of the Pennsylvania |
2 | Consolidated Statutes, further providing for additional |
3 | publication in legal journals; and providing for electronic |
4 | publication of legal advertising. |
5 | The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
6 | hereby enacts as follows: |
7 | Section 1. Section 308(a) of Title 45 of the Pennsylvania |
8 | Consolidated Statutes is amended to read: |
9 | § 308. Additional publication in legal journals. |
10 | (a) General rule.--Except as otherwise provided by statute, |
11 | every notice or advertisement required by law or rule of court |
12 | to be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation |
13 | or permitted by section 403 (relating to authorization) to be |
14 | electronically published, unless dispensed with by special order |
15 | of court, shall also be published in the legal newspaper, issued |
16 | at least weekly, in the county, designated by rules of court for |
17 | the publication of court or other legal notices, if such |
18 | newspaper exists. Publication in such legal newspaper shall be |
19 | made as often as required to be made in such newspapers in |
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1 | general circulation, and shall be subject to the same |
2 | stipulations and regulations as those imposed for the like |
3 | services upon all newspapers. |
4 | * * * |
5 | Section 2. Title 45 is amended by adding a chapter to read: |
6 | CHAPTER 4 |
7 | ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION OF LEGAL ADVERTISING |
8 | Sec. |
9 | 401. Scope of chapter. |
10 | 402. Definitions. |
11 | 403. Authorization. |
12 | 404. Election to electronically publish legal notices. |
13 | 405. Administration. |
14 | § 401. Scope of chapter. |
15 | This chapter relates to public notice modernization. |
16 | § 402. Definitions. |
17 | The following words and phrases when used in this chapter |
18 | shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the |
19 | context clearly indicates otherwise: |
20 | "Department." The Department of Community and Economic |
21 | Development of the Commonwealth. |
22 | "Electronic publication" or "electronically publish." The |
23 | public advertisement of a legal notice in hypertext markup |
24 | language (HTML) format, or an equivalent language format, on an |
25 | official Internet website in accordance with this chapter. |
26 | "Government unit." Any municipality, school district, local |
27 | authority or council of government or similar intergovernmental |
28 | cooperative entity. |
29 | "Legal notice." A notice, advertisement, publication, |
30 | statement or report or an abstract of a notice, advertisement, |
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1 | publication, statement or report required by law, rule or |
2 | regulation to be published in a newspaper relating to any of the |
3 | following: |
4 | (1) A meeting of the governing body of the government |
5 | unit or its committees. |
6 | (2) An ordinance or resolution. |
7 | (3) A budget, auditor's report or financial statement. |
8 | (4) A contract, agreement, request for bids or proposals |
9 | or other documentation related to the procurement of |
10 | supplies, services or construction. |
11 | (5) A sale of real or personal property, including |
12 | property sold for municipal taxes or claims. |
13 | (6) A proceeding requiring public notice in accordance |
14 | with the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), known as the |
15 | Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. |
16 | (7) A proceeding requiring public notice in accordance |
17 | with applicable laws governing zoning or subdivision and land |
18 | development in municipalities not subject to the Pennsylvania |
19 | Municipalities Planning Code. |
20 | "Notice website." An official Internet website or other |
21 | Internet website that is maintained by a government unit or by a |
22 | third party under contract with the government unit that |
23 | contains links to the legal notices designated for electronic |
24 | publication by the government unit. |
25 | "Official Internet website." The official Internet location |
26 | designated by a government unit as its primary source of |
27 | information about the government unit. |
28 | "Ordinance." A legislative enactment of a municipality. |
29 | "Resolution." A legislative enactment of a government unit |
30 | other than a municipality. |
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1 | § 403. Authorization. |
2 | (a) General rule.--In accordance with the provisions of this |
3 | chapter, a government unit which publishes legal notices and |
4 | advertisements consistent with section 308 (relating to |
5 | additional publication in legal journals) shall have the |
6 | authority to electronically publish legal notices in lieu of |
7 | newspaper advertisements required under Chapter 3 (relating to |
8 | legal advertising) or any other law. |
9 | (b) Publication in newspapers of general circulation.-- |
10 | (1) In order to be effective, any legal notice |
11 | electronically published in accordance with this chapter |
12 | shall also be advertised once in a newspaper of general |
13 | circulation no more than five days prior to, but no later |
14 | than the same date, the notice is first available on the |
15 | government unit notice website. The newspaper publication |
16 | shall set forth all of the following: |
17 | (i) A brief description of the subject matter of the |
18 | legal notice. |
19 | (ii) A statement that the full text of the legal |
20 | notice is available on the government unit notice website |
21 | along with a contact telephone number for additional |
22 | information. |
23 | (ii) The Internet address for the government unit |
24 | notice website. |
25 | (iv) The date the legal notice will first be |
26 | electronically published on the government unit notice |
27 | website. |
28 | (2) If, after a good faith attempt to comply with the |
29 | newspaper publication requirement of paragraph (1), the |
30 | government unit fails to obtain publication of the legal |
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1 | notice required by this subsection in any newspaper of |
2 | general circulation within the jurisdiction of the government |
3 | unit, the government unit shall: |
4 | (i) publish the required notice once in the legal |
5 | journal of a county, if any, within which the government |
6 | unit is located in the first issue of the legal journal |
7 | published after the electronic publication of the legal |
8 | notice; and |
9 | (ii) post the required notice at the principal |
10 | office of the government unit. |
11 | (c) Effect of electronic publication.--Except as set forth |
12 | in subsection (b), electronic publication in accordance with |
13 | this chapter shall substitute for and satisfy the requirements |
14 | for publication of a legal notice in newspapers of general |
15 | circulation by a government unit imposed by any provision of |
16 | law. |
17 | § 404. Election to electronically publish legal notices. |
18 | (a) Ordinance or resolution.--A government unit may enact an |
19 | ordinance or adopt a resolution to elect to electronically |
20 | publish legal notices in accordance with this chapter. The |
21 | ordinance or resolution shall be adopted prior to electronic |
22 | publication. |
23 | (b) Specification of notices.--The ordinance or resolution |
24 | adopted under subsection (a) shall specify which type of legal |
25 | notices will be subject to electronic publication under this |
26 | chapter. |
27 | (c) Newspaper publication.-- |
28 | (1) Following adoption of an ordinance or resolution |
29 | under subsection (a), and prior to electronically publishing |
30 | any legal notices, the government unit shall publish a legal |
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1 | advertisement once a week for four successive weeks in one or |
2 | more newspapers of general circulation within the |
3 | jurisdiction of the government unit, announcing that certain |
4 | legal notices will in the future be posted on the government |
5 | unit's notice website in the following form: |
6 | Internet Posting of Public Notices: (name of government |
7 | unit). |
8 | The (name of government unit) announces that legal |
9 | notices on the following matters, effective (insert |
10 | date), shall no longer be advertised at length by |
11 | newspaper publication but shall be posted on (Internet |
12 | address for the notice website or the notice website of |
13 | the county in which the government unit is located, if |
14 | necessary). The following types of notices shall be |
15 | subject to electronic publication: (the advertisement |
16 | shall then list the legal notices that the government |
17 | unit's governing body has elected to publish |
18 | electronically). |
19 | Free public access to the Internet is available at |
20 | (list locations within, adjacent to or accessible to the |
21 | government unit). |
22 | If someone is unable to access the Internet, |
23 | individual copies of notices can be obtained at the (name |
24 | of government unit) at (address) or by calling (insert |
25 | appropriate government unit telephone number). |
26 | (2) If, after a good faith attempt to comply with the |
27 | newspaper publication requirement of paragraph (1), the |
28 | government unit fails to obtain publication of the legal |
29 | notice required by this subsection in any newspaper of |
30 | general circulation within the jurisdiction of the government |
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1 | unit, the government unit shall publish the required notice |
2 | at least once in the legal journal of a county, if any, |
3 | within which the government unit is located and shall post |
4 | the required notice on its official Internet website or |
5 | notice website and at the principal office of the government |
6 | unit. |
7 | § 405. Administration. |
8 | A government unit which has elected to provide electronic |
9 | publication of legal notices shall comply with all of the |
10 | following requirements: |
11 | (1) Prior to electronically publishing notices, a |
12 | government unit or a contractor providing the notice website |
13 | shall enter into a service agreement with an Internet service |
14 | provider that guarantees the website is accessible to the |
15 | public over the Internet at least 98% of the time, 24 hours a |
16 | day, 365 days a year. |
17 | (2) All notices electronically published shall be |
18 | available for review in printed form in the appropriate |
19 | office of the government unit. The government unit shall |
20 | provide a copy of the notice to any individual upon written |
21 | or oral request. The notice shall be provided at a cost not |
22 | to exceed the cost established under section 1307(b) of the |
23 | act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right- |
24 | to-Know Law. |
25 | (3) A government unit's official Internet website shall |
26 | prominently display the link to any other notice website. The |
27 | notice website shall include an indexed web page containing a |
28 | list of all current electronically published notices of the |
29 | government unit, with links to the full text of those |
30 | notices. The index web page shall also contain a search |
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1 | function and may contain other features that improve public |
2 | accessibility to electronically published notices. If a |
3 | government unit does not have an official Internet website, |
4 | the county in which the government unit is located may agree, |
5 | under terms and conditions as the county may require, to |
6 | provide space on the Internet website of the county necessary |
7 | to serve as the government unit's notice website for purposes |
8 | of this chapter. If the county provides space on its Internet |
9 | website, the publication required by section 404 (relating to |
10 | election to electronically publish legal notices) shall |
11 | include the county's official Internet website address. |
12 | (4) (i) An e-mail address of the government unit shall |
13 | be displayed on any website on which its legal notices |
14 | are provided and on each page of any official Internet |
15 | website that contains a link to each notice website or |
16 | index page of any notice website. |
17 | (ii) The government unit shall review all complaints |
18 | reported under paragraph (1) to determine the cause of |
19 | any access problem and shall document the findings and |
20 | any action taken to resolve it. |
21 | (iii) The government unit shall keep and make |
22 | available for public inspection all records of complaints |
23 | and service accessibility failures reported under |
24 | paragraph (1). |
25 | (iv) The government unit shall ensure that all |
26 | website and e-mail addresses required by this chapter are |
27 | updated when a change occurs. |
28 | (5) (i) Electronic publication shall first be made on |
29 | any date permitted by law for the initial printed |
30 | publication of the legal notice and shall remain |
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1 | electronically published at least until the last date |
2 | that printed publication could be made in accordance with |
3 | law. |
4 | (ii) Electronic publication for the period specified |
5 | under subparagraph (i) shall be sufficient for purposes |
6 | of certification of publication under paragraph (7). |
7 | (iii) A government unit that electronically |
8 | publishes a notice for the period under subparagraph (i) |
9 | may do any of the following: |
10 | (A) Continue to electronically publish the |
11 | notice for up to 180 days after the last date for |
12 | publication under subparagraph (i). |
13 | (B) Provide for the printed publication of the |
14 | notice in a newspaper. |
15 | (6) A government unit that elects to provide electronic |
16 | publication of legal notices shall establish a system to |
17 | provide e-mail notification of legal notices to individuals |
18 | who register with the government unit to receive e-mail |
19 | notification. |
20 | (7) The government unit shall obtain a proof of |
21 | publication from the newspaper of general circulation or |
22 | legal journal utilized for the advertisement required by |
23 | section 403(b) (relating to authorization) and prepare a |
24 | written certification that the legal notice was |
25 | electronically published for the period required under |
26 | paragraph (5)(i), which shall include the time, place, |
27 | character of notice and beginning and ending dates of the |
28 | continuous electronic publication of the legal notice. The |
29 | certification shall be a printed or written statement, |
30 | identifying the Internet website on which the legal notice |
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1 | was posted. A copy of the legal notice, exactly as |
2 | electronically published, the proof of publication of the |
3 | notice required by section 403(b) and copies of notifications |
4 | under paragraph (6) shall be attached to the certification. |
5 | The certification shall also state that the time, place, |
6 | character of notice and dates are true. The certification |
7 | shall be signed by an official or employee of the government |
8 | unit responsible for electronically published legal notices |
9 | and an agent of the notice website contractor, if applicable. |
10 | The certification shall constitute a public record as defined |
11 | in the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the |
12 | Right-to-Know Law. The completed certification shall |
13 | constitute proof of publication for compliance with legal |
14 | notice requirements by a government unit in accordance with |
15 | this chapter or any other provision of law. Proof of |
16 | publication may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence |
17 | establishing that the legal notice was not electronically |
18 | published as set forth in the certification. |
19 | (8) The government unit shall maintain a copy of each |
20 | legal notice, certifications of legal notices and electronic |
21 | transmissions as required by paragraph (6) in accordance with |
22 | standards relating to records retention established pursuant |
23 | to law, regulation, policy or other directive. |
24 | Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days. |
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