An Act To Generate Savings by Changing Public Notice Requirements
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, state, county and local governments are required to place notices in newspapers; and
Whereas, the cost of placing these notices is high and involves the use of taxpayer dollars; and
Whereas, an earlier enactment of this legislation would allow state, county and local governments to realize savings more rapidly; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Sec. 1. 1 MRSA §603 is enacted to read:
§ 603. Legal notice publication requirements
Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the following provisions apply to the placing of legal or public notices in a newspaper by a unit of State Government or the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission.
"Beginning January 1, 2008, legal notices such as this one will no longer be published in the newspaper. If you would like to continue to receive these notices, they will be available on the Internet at (address of Internet site). Additionally, you may receive notices such as this one by mail by calling (telephone number)."
"Beginning January 1, 2008, legal notices are no longer published in the newspaper. If you would like to continue to receive these notices, they are available on the Internet at (address of Internet site). Additionally, you may receive notices by mail by calling (telephone number)."
Sec. 2. 30-A MRSA §3013 is enacted to read:
§ 3013. Publication policy
Notwithstanding Title 1, section 601, municipal legal notices may be published in a newspaper medium distributed as 3rd-class postal matter by United States mail rather than in a newspaper of general circulation if the municipal officers have adopted a publication policy regarding legal notices that contains the following requirements:
Sec. 3. Repeal and cross-references. The Department of Administrative and Financial Services shall submit legislation by December 15, 2007 to the Joint Standing Committee on State and Local Government that repeals all requirements in the Maine Revised Statutes that a unit of State Government and the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission publish legal or public notices in a newspaper, including necessary language to carry out the purposes of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 603. The committee shall submit legislation to the Second Regular Session of the 123rd Legislature implementing the recommendations of the department.
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect July 1, 2007.
SUMMARY
This bill phases out, over a one-year period, the requirement that State Government, including the executive branch, departments, independent agencies, the Legislature and the judicial branch, and the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, or LURC, publish legal or public notices in a newspaper. Instead, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, for State Government, and LURC, for the unorganized territory, are required to establish and maintain a publicly accessible Internet site on which to post all legal and public notices. In addition, the department and LURC are required to establish and maintain an in-state toll-free telephone number that allows a person in Maine to call and receive, by mail, any notice posted on the respective Internet sites.
For the first 6 months, from July 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, every notice published in a newspaper by an entity of State Government or LURC is required to include an entity of statement with the printing of each public notice that notices will not be printed in newspapers after December 31, 2007 and the address of the Internet site and telephone number of the government entity or LURC, as the case may be. For the next 6 months, from January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008, instead of publishing a notice, the government entity and LURC are only required to publish a statement that notices are no longer published in the newspaper and the address of the Internet site and telephone number where such notices may not be obtained. Finally, beginning July 1, 2008, no notices will be published in newspapers by a government entity or LURC.
This bill allows municipalities to publish legal notices in a newspaper medium distributed as 3rd-class mail if the municipal officers adopt a publication policy. The policy must contain 5 requirements. The newspaper of general circulation must have a subscription rate of less than 30% of the residents in the municipality, all households in the municipality must receive the alternative newspaper, the alternative newspaper must cost less than the newspaper of general circulation, the municipality must retain a record of all notices published in the alternative newspaper and the publisher of the alternative newspaper must have a system of archiving past editions.
The Department of Administrative and Financial Services is required to submit legislation by December 15, 2007 to the Joint Standing Committee on State and Local Government that removes any statutory requirement that a government entity publish notices in newspapers.