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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| HOUSE BILL |
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| INTRODUCED BY CREIGHTON, JUNE 22, 2009 |
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| REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JUNE 22, 2009 |
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| AN ACT |
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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 | Sec. |
11 | 401. Short title of chapter. |
12 | 402. Definitions. |
13 | 403. Electronic advertising. |
14 | 404. Complaints and service accessibility failures. |
15 | 405. Copies of legal notices. |
16 | 406. Time for posting. |
17 | 407. Responsible official. |
18 | 408. Creation of proof of publication. |
19 | 409. Proof of publication. |
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1 | 410. Other notice and advertising requirements. |
2 | § 401. Short title of chapter. |
3 | This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the |
4 | Electronic Legal Advertising Act. |
5 | § 402. Definitions. |
6 | The following words and phrases when used in this chapter |
7 | shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the |
8 | context clearly indicates otherwise: |
9 | "Electronic publication" or "electronically publish." The |
10 | public advertisement of a legal notice in HyperText Markup |
11 | Language format (HTML) or an equivalent language format on an |
12 | official government Internet website. |
13 | "Notice website." An Internet website that is maintained by |
14 | a governmental unit, or by a third party under contract with the |
15 | unit, that contains links to the legal notices electronically |
16 | published by the governmental unit. |
17 | "Official Internet website" or "official website." The |
18 | Internet location designated by a governmental unit as its |
19 | primary source of information about the governmental unit on the |
20 | Internet. |
21 | § 403. Electronic advertising. |
22 | Whenever a governmental unit is required by law to publish a |
23 | legal notice in one or more newspapers of general circulation, |
24 | the governmental unit or its representative may publish the |
25 | notice on an official government notice website instead of in a |
26 | newspaper of general circulation, if all of the following |
27 | requirements are met: |
28 | (1) The governmental unit, or the host of the notice |
29 | website, shall enter into a service-level agreement with an |
30 | Internet service provider that guarantees the site is |
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1 | accessible to the public over the Internet at least 98% of |
2 | the time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. |
3 | (2) The governmental unit's official Internet website |
4 | containing the notice website shall be registered with the |
5 | Office of Information Technology of the Office of |
6 | Administration, for posting on a State Internet website that |
7 | lists Internet sites of governmental units. |
8 | (3) The governmental unit's official Internet website |
9 | shall prominently display a link to the notice webpage, which |
10 | shall be an index webpage, containing a list of all current |
11 | legal notices of the unit, with links to the full text of |
12 | those notices, not just to summaries of those notices. The |
13 | index webpage shall also contain a search function and other |
14 | features that improve public accessibility to legal notices. |
15 | (4) Each webpage on the official website with a link to |
16 | the notice webpage or index webpage, as well as the notice |
17 | website itself, shall contain an e-mail link to submit a |
18 | complaint to the governmental unit if access to any legal |
19 | notice fails. |
20 | § 404. Complaints and service accessibility failures. |
21 | A governmental unit shall review all complaints reported |
22 | under section 403(4) (relating to electronic advertising) or |
23 | otherwise to determine the cause of any service accessibility |
24 | failure, and it shall document the findings and any action taken |
25 | to resolve the failure. The governmental unit shall keep and |
26 | make available for public inspection all records of complaints |
27 | and service accessibility failures. |
28 | § 405. Copies of legal notices. |
29 | Whenever an individual is unable to access an electronic |
30 | publication of a legal notice, the issuing governmental unit |
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1 | shall provide a copy of the notice to the individual free of |
2 | charge. |
3 | § 406. Time for posting. |
4 | Notices shall remain available on the notice website at least |
5 | until the last posting date required by law has expired or until |
6 | the event described in a notice has taken place, whichever is |
7 | later. |
8 | § 407. Responsible official. |
9 | A governmental unit shall designate an official to be |
10 | responsible for electronic publication and shall post the name |
11 | and contact information of the official on the notice website. |
12 | § 408. Creation of proof of publication. |
13 | The governmental unit shall create and keep, or have provided |
14 | by the notice website contractor, a proof of publication for |
15 | each legal notice. The proof of publication shall state that the |
16 | legal notice was posted from the initial date through either the |
17 | last posting date required by law or the date when the event |
18 | described in a notice takes place, whichever occurs later. |
19 | § 409. Proof of publication. |
20 | Proof of publication of an electronically published legal |
21 | notice for the purpose of complying with public notice |
22 | requirements shall be satisfied and deemed conclusive upon the |
23 | provision of a copy of the proof of publication, certified by |
24 | the official designated under section 407 (relating to |
25 | responsible official), stating that the notice was posted from |
26 | the initial date until the last posting date required by law. |
27 | § 410. Other notice and advertising requirements. |
28 | Nothing in this chapter shall negate or effect any |
29 | requirement in law, regulation or rule requiring that a notice |
30 | or other advertisement be published in a periodical designated |
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1 | by the rules of court of a county for the publication of legal |
2 | notices. |
3 | Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days. |
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