THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY ROBBINS, COSTA, ERICKSON, FERLO, FOLMER, FONTANA, ORIE, PICCOLA AND SMUCKER, MARCH 8, 2011

REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MARCH 8, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending Title 45 (Legal Notices) of the Pennsylvania

Consolidated Statutes, further providing for additional

publication in legal journals; and providing for electronic

publication of legal advertising.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 308(a) of Title 45 of the Pennsylvania

Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:

§ 308.  Additional publication in legal journals.

(a)  General rule.--Except as otherwise provided by statute,

every notice or advertisement required by law or rule of court

to be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation

or permitted by section 403 (relating to authorization) to be

electronically published, unless dispensed with by special order

of court, shall also be published in the legal newspaper, issued

at least weekly, in the county, designated by rules of court for

the publication of court or other legal notices, if such

newspaper exists. Publication in such legal newspaper shall be

made as often as required to be made in such newspapers in

general circulation, and shall be subject to the same

stipulations and regulations as those imposed for the like

services upon all newspapers.

* * *

Section 2.  Title 45 is amended by adding a chapter to read:

CHAPTER 4

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION OF LEGAL ADVERTISING

Sec.

401.  Scope of chapter.

402.  Definitions.

403.  Authorization.

404.  Election to electronically publish legal notices.

405.  Administration.

406.  Department responsibilities.

407.  Reporting.

408.  Regulations.

§ 401.  Scope of chapter.

This chapter relates to public notice modernization.

§ 402.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this chapter

shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Center."  The Governor's Center for Local Government

Services within the Department of Community and Economic

Development.

"Department."  The Department of Community and Economic

Development of the Commonwealth.

"Electronic publication" or "electronically publish."  The

public advertisement of a legal notice in hypertext markup

language (HTML) format, or an equivalent language format, on an

official Internet website in accordance with this chapter.

"Government unit."  Any municipality, school district, local

authority or council of government or similar intergovernmental

cooperative entity.

"Legal notice" or "notice."  A notice, advertisement,

publication, statement or report or an abstract of a notice,

advertisement, publication, statement or report required by law,

rule or regulation to be published in a newspaper relating to

any of the following:

(1)  A meeting of the governing body of the government

unit or its committees.

(2)  An ordinance or resolution.

(3)  A budget, auditor's report or financial statement.

(4)  A contract, agreement, request for bids or proposals

or other documentation related to the procurement of

supplies, services or construction.

(5)  A sale of real or personal property, including

property sold for municipal taxes or claims.

(6)  A proceeding requiring public notice in accordance

with the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), known as the

Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.

(7)  A proceeding requiring public notice in accordance

with applicable laws governing zoning or subdivision and land

development in municipalities not subject to the Pennsylvania

Municipalities Planning Code.

"Notice website."  An official Internet website or other

Internet website that is maintained by a government unit or by a

third party under contract with the government unit that

contains links to the legal notices designated for electronic

publication by the government unit.

"Official Internet website" or "official website."  The

official Internet location designated by a government unit as

its primary source of information about the government unit.

"Ordinance."  A legislative enactment of a municipality.

"Resolution."  A legislative enactment of a government unit

other than a municipality.

§ 403.  Authorization.

(a)  General rule.--In accordance with the provisions of this

chapter, a government unit which publishes notices and

advertisements consistent with section 308 (relating to

additional publication in legal journals) shall have the

authority to electronically publish legal notices in lieu of

newspaper advertisements required under Chapter 3 (relating to

legal advertising) or any other law.

(b)  Effect of electronic publication.--Electronic

publication in accordance with this chapter shall substitute for

and satisfy the requirements for publication of legal notice in

newspapers of general circulation by a government unit imposed

by any provision of law.

§ 404.  Election to electronically publish legal notices.

(a)  Ordinance or resolution.--A government unit may enact an

ordinance or adopt a resolution to elect to electronically

publish legal notices in accordance with this chapter. The

ordinance or resolution shall be adopted prior to electronic

publication.

(b)  Specification of notices.--The ordinance or resolution

adopted under subsection (a) shall specify which type of legal

notices will be subject to electronic publication under this

chapter.

(c)  Center.--Within 90 days of the enactment of an ordinance

or resolution under subsection (a), the government unit shall

furnish the center a copy of the ordinance or resolution and all

official Internet website addresses applicable to the electronic

publication of legal notices. Notice to the center shall include

a one-time $100 fee to assist the center to create the list

under section 406(a) (relating to department responsibilities).

(d)  Newspaper publication.--

(1)  Following adoption of an ordinance or resolution

under subsection (a), and prior to electronically publishing

any legal notices, the government unit shall publish a legal

advertisement once a week for four successive weeks in one or

more newspapers of general circulation within the

jurisdiction of the government unit, announcing that certain

legal notices will in the future be posted on the government

unit's notice website in the following form:

Internet Posting of Public Notices: (name of government

unit).

The (name of government unit) announces that legal

notices on the following matters, effective (insert

date), shall no longer be advertised by newspaper

publication but shall be posted on (Internet address for

the notice website or the notice website of the county in

which the government unit is located, if necessary). The

following types of notices shall be subject to electronic

publication: (the advertisement shall then list the legal

notices that the government unit's governing body has

elected to publish electronically).

Free public access to the Internet is available at

(list locations within, adjacent to or accessible to the

government unit).

If someone is unable to access the Internet,

individual copies of notices can be obtained at the (name

of government unit) at (address) or by calling (insert

appropriate government unit phone number).

(2)  If, after a good faith attempt to comply with the

newspaper publication requirement of paragraph (1), the

government unit fails to obtain publication of the notice

required by this subsection in any newspaper of general

circulation within the jurisdiction of the government unit,

the government unit may publish the required notice at least

once in the legal journal of a county within which the

government unit is located and shall post the required notice

on its official Internet website or notice website and at the

principal office of the government unit.

(e)  Additional advertisement.--In addition to the newspaper

publication required by subsection (d), a government unit may,

from time to time, advertise by newspaper or other means the

fact that it is electronically publishing specific legal notices

as identified in the advertisement.

§ 405.  Administration.

A government unit which has elected to provide electronic

publication of legal notices shall comply with all of the

following requirements:

(1)  Prior to electronically publishing notices, a

government unit or a contractor providing the notice website

shall enter into a service agreement with an Internet service

provider that guarantees the website is accessible to the

public over the Internet at least 98% of the time, 24 hours a

day, 365 days a year.

(2)  All notices electronically published shall be

available for review in printed form in the appropriate

office of the government unit. The government unit shall

provide a copy of the notice to any individual upon written

or oral request. The notice shall be provided at a cost not

to exceed the cost established under section 1307(b) of the

act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-

to-Know Law.

(3)  A government unit's official Internet website shall

prominently display the link to any other notice website. The

notice website shall include an indexed web page containing a

list of all current electronically published notices of the

government unit, with links to the full text of those

notices. The index web page shall also contain a search

function and may contain other features that improve public

accessibility to electronically published notices. If a

government unit does not have an official Internet website,

the county in which the government unit is located may agree,

under terms and conditions as the county may require, to

provide space on the Internet website of the county necessary

to serve as the government unit's notice website for purposes

of this chapter. If the county provides space on its Internet

website, the publication required by section 404 (relating to

election to electronically publish legal notices) shall

include the county's official Internet website address.

(4)  (i)  An e-mail address of the government unit shall

be displayed on any website on which its legal notices

are provided and on each page of any official Internet

website that contains a link to each notice website or

index page of any notice website.

(ii)  The government unit shall review all complaints

reported under paragraph (1) to determine the cause of

any access problem and shall document the findings and

any action taken to resolve it.

(iii)  The government unit shall keep and make

available for public inspection all records of complaints

and service accessibility failures reported under

paragraph (1). The records shall also be filed with the

center.

(iv)  The government unit shall ensure that all

website and e-mail addresses required by this chapter are

updated when a change occurs.

(5)  (i)  Electronic publication shall first be made on

any date permitted by law for the initial printed

publication of the legal notice and shall remain

electronically published at least until the last date

that printed publication could be made in accordance with

law.

(ii)  Electronic publication for the period specified

under subparagraph (i) shall be sufficient for purposes

of certification of publication under paragraph (8).

(iii)  A government unit that electronically

publishes a notice for the period under subparagraph (i)

may do any of the following:

(A)  Continue to electronically publish the

notice for up to 180 days after the last date for

publication under subparagraph (i).

(B)  Provide for the printed publication of the

notice in a newspaper.

(6)  All legal notices electronically published by a

government unit under this chapter shall be mailed by first

class mail, or facsimile, to one or more newspapers of

general circulation no later than the date the notice is

posted on the notice website. The newspaper may use the

notice for research, for monitoring or to print as a public

service at no charge to the government unit.

(7)  A government unit that elects to provide electronic

publication of legal notices shall establish a system to

provide e-mail notification to individuals who register with

the government unit to receive e-mail notification.

(8)  The government unit shall provide written

certification that the legal notice was electronically

published for the period required under paragraph (5)(i) and

the time, place, character of notice and beginning and ending

dates of the continuous electronic publication of the legal

notice. The certification shall be a printed or written

statement, identifying the Internet website on which the

legal notice was posted. A copy of the legal notice, exactly

as electronically published, and copies of notifications

under paragraph (7) shall be attached to the certification.

The certification shall also state that the time, place,

character of notice and dates are true. The certification

shall be signed by an official or employee of the government

unit responsible for electronically published legal notices

and an agent of the notice website contractor, if applicable.

The certification shall constitute a public record as defined

in the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the

Right-to-Know Law. The completed certification shall

constitute proof of publication for compliance with legal

notice requirements by a government unit in accordance with

this chapter or any other provision of law. Proof of

publication may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence

establishing that the legal notice was not electronically

published as set forth in the certification.

(9)  The government unit shall maintain a copy of each

legal notice, certifications of legal notices, electronic

transmissions required by paragraph (7) and facsimile

transmission reports in accordance with standards relating to

records retention established pursuant to law, regulation,

policy or other directive.

§ 406.  Department responsibilities.

(a)  List of government units.--Within six months of the

effective date of this section, the center shall create and

maintain a list of the names and Internet websites of all

government units for which it has received a copy of an

ordinance or resolution to permit electronic publication of

legal notices under this chapter in accordance with section 404

(relating to election to electronically publish legal notices).

The list shall be accessible through the department's Internet

website and may be organized to correspond with any existing

database the center may maintain. The list shall contain links

to the government units' official Internet websites.

(b)  Failure to comply.--Notwithstanding any other provision

of law, the failure of a government unit to provide notice to

the center under subsection (a) shall not invalidate any action

for which electronic publication has been made.

§ 407.  Reporting.

The department shall prepare a report on the use of this

chapter 12 months after the effective date of this chapter, and

biannually thereafter. The report shall be posted on the

department's Internet website. Notification of the report's

publication shall be provided to the President pro tempore of

the Senate, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Minority

Leader of the Senate, the chairman and minority chairman of the

Local Government Committee of the Senate, the Speaker of the

House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the House of

Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of

Representatives and the chairman and the minority chairman of

the Local Government Committee of the House of Representatives.

§ 408.  Regulations.

The department shall adopt procedures to verify the

publication of legal notices in compliance with this chapter.

Section 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.