HARRISBURG – The PA House Local Government Committee approved a bill allowing local governments and school districts to publish their public notices in digital newspapers and free publications if no print newspapers are published in their area. Currently, state law requires municipalities and school districts to publish public notices in newspapers of general circulation, which by law must be in print. With fewer print newspapers remaining, it’s difficult to meet the current statutory requirement for legal notices. House Bill 1291 would update PA’s nearly 50-year-old Newspaper Advertising Act to require that public notices continue to be published in print newspapers of general circulation, but if such a newspaper does not exist, the notice could be published in a digital newspaper of general circulation, an online-only newspaper, or a free newspaper. It also would require municipalities and school districts to adopt a resolution at a public meeting declaring which newspaper they will be using to carry their public notices. The bill now goes before the full PA House.
