Public notice in newspapers an issue in various states

Battling bills that would relocate all government and foreclosure notices in Missouri from newspapers to government and law firm websites, the Missouri Press Association (MPA) is in favor of Senate Bill 515, according to the Public Notice Resource Center.

SB 515 would require papers in Missouri that publish notices to also put them on MPA’s public notice site. It would also require newspapers to have volume or repeat-buyer discounts and would require lower prices for “second and successive insertions.”

Missouri spent almost $6 million in 2018 placing the full text of all statewide ballot measures in papers all over the state, a move the state constitution mandates, according to the Public Notice Resource Center.

Foreclosure notices are also an issue in the legislature, which held a hearing in February on the matter.

Indiana has a bill that would move foreclosure notices from newspapers to county or sheriffs’ websites. 

Legislation that would put public notice online has been brought forward in Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Texas, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to the Public Notice Resource Center.

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