We are writing today to ask that you co-sponsor and vote in favor of S4064

• Public notices have been published in newspapers for more than 100 years. The advent of the internet does not alter the fact that newspapers were and remain the best vehicle for publication of such notices. The independence of newspapers from the governmental agency charged with providing the notice is critical to verifying compliance by the public entity with publication requirements. Newspapers act as third-party auditors and provide an independent, verifiable record of publication.
• Newspaper websites have far more unique visitors than public entity websites. If transparency is truly a goal of any legal notice then that goal can best be achieved through publication in newspapers and their websites.
• There are a multiplicity of public entities within any municipality or county, such as school boards, improvement authorities, fire districts, sewage authorities, etc. There are also many State departments, agencies, and divisions. Allowing each public entity to publish on its website the public notices applicable to that particular entity leaves a member of the public to search multiple municipal/county/State websites to find a public notice. Publication in a newspaper and its website allows for “one stop shopping.”
• Newspapers are in the business of disseminating news and information, which is frequently updated by professional journalists. Newspapers have an incentive to attract viewers to their websites, since readership is the economic lifeblood of a newspaper. The operation of a public entity website, however, is, at best, incidental to the primary function of the public entity. This, in turn, explains the difference in how people interact with a newspaper website and a public entity website. Public entity websites generally tend to be viewed on a transactional basis. People go to a public entity website for a specific purpose, such as determining what their tax assessment is, or paying a tax bill. Viewers to a newspaper website, however, tend to act in the same manner as they have always acted when reading a newspaper. They peruse the information on the newspaper website, and in doing so, often serendipitously also view public notices.
• The proposal that public entities publish their own public notices fails to address a critical aspect of such notices. The requirement to publish public notices is not limited to notices of public entities. There are a multitude of statutes and court rules requiring individuals and corporate and business entities to publish public notices. The proposal of public entities publishing their own public notices wholly fails to address these private notices. Who will publish these notices and what price will be charged?
• Public entities suggest that their proposal is a cost savings opportunity. However, they provide no data to support this assertion. There are, of course, costs associated with developing and maintaining a website.  There are also costs associated with the preparation and pre-publication review of public notices.  Additionally, public entities will be required to bear the costs of providing adequate cybersecurity for their websites and public notice infrastructure. The typical public entity spends only a small fraction of its budget currently on publishing public notices. And, the rates paid to newspapers for the publication of public notices have not increased in over 40 years - and the proposed legislation, S4064, would not increase those rates.
• It is no secret that many newspapers are struggling economically. It is also no secret that newspapers play a key role in our democracy. The revenue generated through the publication by newspapers of public notices is an important part of a newspaper’s income stream. The loss of that revenue will undoubtedly lead to the demise of some publications, further accelerating the loss of journalism at a time when that loss will critically impact informing New Jersey residents on current events, vital news, and governmental actions. There are those who say “So what? It is time to end the subsidization of newspapers.” But this view is simply wrong. Paying a newspaper for publishing a public notice is not subsidizing the newspaper, it is paying for a service. In fact, it is newspapers that have subsidized government by publishing those notices that satisfy government’s duty for the same price for the past 40 years. And so committed to the importance of public notices are newspapers, that the price structure set forth in S4064, does not seek an increase in those rates.
• S4064 keeps public notices in the news, where they belong, and provides a pathway for not only newspapers, but also online news publications, to publish these importance notices. It is a solution that modernizes the current public notice scheme in New Jersey, making public notices accessible to anyone online. And it does this in a way that preserves public notice revenue for entities reporting on communities, government action, and current events – a service that the people of New Jersey want and need.     

Sincerely,