A bill that gives the legislature more time to deal with the public notices and legal advertisement crisis created after the Star-Ledger and other print newspapers ceased publication on February 2 will be considered today by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Late last year, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a quickly-assembled bill that permitted the Star-Ledger to continue accepting the lucrative public notice ads – some call them subsidies – until March 1.
Today’s bill initially gave the newspapers a reprieve through the end of 2025, but late amendments obtained by the New Jersey Globe now put the new deadline at June 30 – before the Legislature adjourns for the summer.
The amendments now include a new requirement: the legislature wants newspapers or online news organizations seeking to receive public funds through legal notices to provide them with the information they need to make decisions.
The proposed law would give newspapers thirty days to provide them with the number of paid print digital subscriptions by municipality, the number of newspapers sold each day by retailers, the amounts billed for public notices and legal advertisements since 2020, broken down by public entity, and the average retail price of digital and print subscriptions. Simply put, the legislature wants the newspapers to justify their request for public dollars.
Nine years ago, the amount of money newspapers make off legal notices in New Jersey was estimated to be roughly $80 million. Newspapers regularly make certified audits of their circulation public.
