PRINTER'S NO. 4452
No. 2868 Session of 2006
INTRODUCED BY CALTAGIRONE, GODSHALL, BEBKO-JONES, BENNINGHOFF,
BUNT, COHEN, CREIGHTON, DENLINGER, FLAHERTY, GEIST, GOOD,
GRELL, KOTIK, LEACH, LEH, MUNDY, MYERS, PALLONE, READSHAW,
REICHLEY, SIPTROTH, SOLOBAY, WALKO, WANSACZ AND YOUNGBLOOD,
JUNE 30, 2006
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JUNE 30, 2006
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 45 (Legal Notices) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for electronic publication
3 of legal notices.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 45 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a chapter to read:
8 CHAPTER 4
9 ELECTRONIC LEGAL ADVERTISING
10 § 401. Short title of chapter.
11 This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
12 Electronic Legal Advertising Act.
13 § 402. Definitions.
14 The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
15 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
16 context clearly indicates otherwise:
17 "Electronic publication" or "electronically publish." The
1 public advertisement of a legal notice in HyperText Markup
2 Language format (HTML) or an equivalent language format on an
3 official government Internet website.
4 "Notice website." An Internet website that is maintained by
5 a governmental unit, or by a third party under contract with the
6 unit, that contains links to the legal notices electronically
7 published by the governmental unit.
8 "Official Internet website" or "official website." The
9 Internet location designated by a governmental unit as its
10 primary source of information about the governmental unit on the
11 Internet.
12 § 403. Electronic advertising.
13 Whenever a governmental unit is required by law to publish a
14 legal notice in one or more newspapers of general circulation,
15 the governmental unit or its representative may cause the
16 required notice to be published on an official government notice
17 website instead of in a newspaper of general circulation, if all
18 of the following requirements are met:
19 (1) The governmental unit, or the host of the notice
20 website, shall enter into a service-level agreement with an
21 Internet service provider that guarantees the site is
22 accessible to the public over the Internet at least 98% of
23 the time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
24 (2) The governmental unit's official Internet website
25 containing the notice website shall be registered with the
26 Office of Information Technology of the Office of
27 Administration, for posting on a State Internet website that
28 lists Internet sites of governmental units.
29 (3) The governmental unit's official Internet website
30 shall prominently display a link to the notice webpage, which
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1 shall be an index website, containing a list of all current
2 legal notices of the unit, with links to the full text of
3 those notices, not just to summaries of those notices. The
4 index webpage shall also contain a search function and other
5 features that improve public accessibility to legal notices.
6 (4) Each webpage on the official website with a link to
7 the notice website or index webpage, as well as the notice
8 website itself, shall contain an e-mail link to submit a
9 complaint to the governmental unit if access to any legal
10 notice fails.
11 § 404. Complaints and service accessibility failures.
12 A governmental unit shall review all complaints reported
13 under section 403 (relating to electronic advertising) or
14 otherwise to determine the cause of any access problem and it
15 shall document the findings and any action taken to resolve the
16 problem. The governmental unit shall keep and make available for
17 public inspection all records of complaints and service
18 accessibility failures.
19 § 405. Copies of legal notices.
20 Whenever an individual is unable to access an electronic
21 publication of a legal notice, the issuing governmental unit
22 shall provide a copy of the notice to the individual free of
23 charge.
24 § 406. Time for posting.
25 Notices shall remain available on the notice website at least
26 until the last posting date required by law has expired or until
27 the event described in a notice has taken place, whichever is
28 later.
29 § 407. Responsible official.
30 A governmental unit shall designate an official to be
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1 responsible for electronic publication and shall post that
2 official's name and contact information on the notice website.
3 § 408. Creation of proof of publication.
4 The governmental unit shall create and keep, or have provided
5 by the notice website contractor, a proof of publication for
6 each legal notice. The proof of publication shall state that the
7 legal notice was posted from the initial date through either the
8 last posting date required by law or the date when the event
9 described in a notice takes place, whichever occurs later.
10 § 409. Proof of Publication.
11 Proof of publication of an electronically published legal
12 notice for the purpose of complying with public notice
13 requirements shall be satisfied and deemed conclusive upon the
14 provision of a copy of the proof of publication, certified by
15 the official designated pursuant to section 407 (relating to
16 responsible official), stating that the notice was posted from
17 the initial date until the last posting date required by law.
18 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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