THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY ROBBINS, ALLOWAY, CORMAN, COSTA, EARLL, EICHELBERGER, ERICKSON, FERLO, FOLMER, FONTANA, LOGAN, O'PAKE, ORIE, PICCOLA, PILEGGI AND WAUGH, FEBRUARY 20, 2009

REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 20, 2009  

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.

§ 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 for Local Government Services."  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.

(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 act of July

31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), known as 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 electronically published by

the government unit designated for publication of notices.

"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.

§ 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 other provision of law.

§ 404.  Election to electronically publish legal notices.

(a)  Ordinance or resolution.--A government unit may, by

ordinance or resolution, 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 are subject to electronic publication under this

chapter.

(c)  Center for Local Government Services.--Within 90 days of

the enactment of an ordinance or resolution under subsection

(a), the government unit shall furnish the Center for Local

Government Services a copy of the ordinance or resolution and

all Internet website addresses applicable to the electronic

publication of legal notices for compilation and posting.

(d)  Newspaper publication.--

(1)  After adopting 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 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

governmental unit fails to obtain publication of the notice

required by this subsection in any newspaper of general

circulation within the jurisdiction of the governmental unit,

the governmental unit may publish the required notice at

least once in the legal journal of a county within which the

governmental unit is located and shall post the required

notice on its official Internet website and at the principal

office of the governmental 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 level 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. The notice

may be provided at cost.

(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. In the case of an agreement, 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 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 documentation shall also be filed with

the Center for Local Government Services.

(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 (6).

(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)  The government unit shall provide for certification

indicating that the legal notice was electronically published

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

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 electronically published notice was

posted. A copy of the legal notice, exactly as electronically

published, shall be attached to the certification. The

certification shall also state that all of the allegations of

the statement as to the time, place and character of

publication 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 the purpose of complying with the requirement

for legal notice by a government unit in accordance with this

chapter or any other provision of law. A 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.

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

legal notice 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 electing electronic

publication.--As soon as is reasonably possible, after the

effective date of this section, the Center for Local Government

Services 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 enactment to advertise 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

for Local Government Services may maintain. The list shall

contain links to the government units' official Internet

websites.

(b)  List of all notices to be published electronically.--The

government unit shall provide notification of the electronic 

publication of a legal notice to the Center for Local Government

Services, in a form and structure prescribed by the Center for

Local Government Services. The notification shall include the

name of the government unit, the date the notice is published,

the subject matter of the notice and the Internet address to

connect to the notice website. The Center for Local Government

Services shall maintain a list of all notifications received.

Notifications of the publication of a legal notice shall remain

on the list for at least 24 months. The list shall be accessible

through the department's Internet website and may be organized

to correspond with any existing database the Center for Local

Government Services may maintain. The department shall use RSS

feeds or similar technology to enable users to receive

notification when the list is updated.

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

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

the Center for Local Government Services to maintain lists under

subsections (a) and (b) 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.

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