By Marc Pfeiffer (Published December 8, 2024 NJ.com)

For over a century, New Jersey has required government agencies to publish legal notices in newspapers to ensure transparency and public accountability. These notices cover everything from public meetings and ordinances to procurement of goods and services as well as foreclosures.

But with many newspapers transitioning to digital-only formats, our state faces an immediate challenge: how to maintain this vital system of public notification when print newspapers are disappearing.

Advance Publications, the owner of the Star-Ledger and several other daily and weekly newspapers, will stop printing its newspapers as of February 1, 2025. The Star-Ledger is the only newspaper that meets the state’s current legal requirements for government agencies and others to print legal notices that require state-wide distribution.

While the need to modernize legal notices has been discussed in policy circles for years, we now face a hard deadline to update state law. However, rushing to implement permanent changes would be a mistake.

Legal notices serve crucial functions in our civic affairs. They ensure government transparency, facilitate business operations, and provide a verified, archived record of official actions. Simply moving these notices to government websites, as some have suggested, would undermine their independence and accessibility. Similarly, eliminating or severely restricting legal notices would harm both government transparency and local journalism, the latter relying partially on this revenue stream to sustain its vital watchdog role.

What we need is a thoughtful two-step approach to modernization.

First, the legislature should enact an immediate two-year fix allowing legal notices to be published in online facsimile editions of qualifying newspapers, rather than requiring physical printing. These digital versions must provide equivalent-to-paper access to the notices and maintain clear placement.

Publications should continue submitting notices to the existing national database (www.njpublicnotices.com), ensuring broad accessibility to local ads. To reflect reduced digital publishing costs, the per-line rate should be adjusted downward.

Second, during this two-year period, the state should convene a task force of stakeholders, media experts, legal professionals, and technology specialists. Their mission is to develop comprehensive recommendations for a permanent solution.

This group should address crucial questions about modernizing the system.

Some questions ripe for study include: How can we leverage technology to improve notice accessibility? What role should new digital-only local news outlets play? How do we ensure proper verification and archiving of notices? How can we maintain the independence of the notification system while controlling costs? Are there different ways to present the content?

The task force should operate under a fixed timeline – perhaps 6-9 months – to deliver recommendations. That would allow the legislature sufficient time to craft and then phase in thoughtful reforms. This measured approach would help New Jersey develop a modern legal notice system that maintains transparency while adapting to new technological realities.

Critics might argue that we don’t have time for such deliberation, given the imminent changes in newspaper publishing. However, the two-year interim solution provides breathing room to get this right. Legal notices remain fundamental to government transparency and accountability. Their modernization deserves careful consideration rather than a rushed response to market changes.

The right solution will balance multiple needs: ensuring public access to government information, maintaining independence from government control, supporting local journalism, and leveraging new technologies. By taking a measured, two-step approach, New Jersey can create a legal notice system that serves our state well into the digital age.

We must resist the urge to make hasty, permanent changes to this crucial element of government transparency. Instead, let’s implement a smart interim solution while we develop a comprehensive modernization plan that serves all stakeholders. Let’s do this right the first time.