§ 35:3-3 — Non-public entities, publishing, advertising legal notices, online publication, eligibility.

3. a. (1) After March 1, 2026, whenever a corporation, individual, or any other entity that is not a public entity is required by law or by the order or rule of any court to publish or advertise a legal notice, the corporation, individual, or other entity shall publish or advertise the legal notice on an online news publication that satisfies the requirements of subsection b. of this section. (2) The corporation, individual, or other entity shall select an online news publication based on the geographic target as established or implied under the law, court order, or court rule requiring publication. b. To be an eligible online news publication under subsection a. of this section, an online news publication shall: (1) use a domain name for the Internet website that will be easily recognizable and understandable to users of the website as belonging to that online news publication; (2) maintain the online news publication on the Internet in a manner that is fully accessible and searchable by members of the public at all times, other than during routine maintenance or circumstances outside of the operator's control; (3) ensure that legal notices published or advertised on the online news publication comply with the requirements that would apply to the legal notices if they were published in a physical newspaper, as applicable; (4) maintain an archive for at least one year of notices that are no longer displayed on the online news publication; (5) display a legal notice for at least one week, or other time period as required by law, before placing it in archive; (6) enable legal notices, both those currently displayed and those archived, to be accessed by key word, by party name, by case number, by county, or other useful identifiers; (7) maintain an adequate security system and develop a contingency plan for coping with and recovering from power outages, systemic failures, and other unforeseen circumstances; (8) not charge a fee or require registration or a subscription to view legal notices; (9) maintain media liability insurance of up to $1 million; (10) have been in continuous operation for at least three years, which can be satisfied by the online news publication itself or by a company that has a controlling or majority interest in the online news publication; and (11) (a) provide the number of monthly unique website visits and monthly unique website visits by users in this State and in each county, as evidenced by IP address or other appropriate identifier, which shall be prominently displayed on the Internet homepage of the online news publication along with the criteria provided in this subsection, or a hyperlink to a webpage displaying such criteria, and whether the online news publication meets each criteria. (b) (i) To qualify as an online news publication eligible to publish legal notices for municipal-wide circulation, the online news publication shall receive 4,000 unique monthly visits on average as calculated annually, no less than 50 percent of which shall be from IP addresses within the applicable municipality or within a 10-mile radius of the municipality. (ii) To qualify as an online news publication eligible to publish legal notices for county-wide circulation, the online news publication shall receive 50,000 unique monthly visits on average as calculated annually, no less than 50 percent of which shall be from IP addresses within the applicable county or within a 10-mile radius of the county. (iii) To qualify as an online news publication eligible to publish legal notices for State-wide circulation, the online news publication shall receive 350,000 unique monthly visits on average as calculated annually, no less than 50 percent of which shall be from IP addresses within the State. c. The price to be paid for publishing all public notices or legal notices in an online news publication pursuant to P.L.2025, c.72 (C.35:3-1 et al.), shall not exceed the rates established pursuant to R.S.35:2-1. d. Unless otherwise provided pursuant to applicable law or court rule or order, an online news publication that receives a legal notice for publication pursuant to this section shall publish the notice within 24 hours of receipt. e. An online news publication that falsely represents that it meets the criteria established pursuant to subsection b. of this section and accepts legal notices for publication shall deemed to have committed an unlawful practice under P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.) and liable to enforcement by the Attorney General pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.). L.2025, c.72, s.3.