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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6812
January Session, 2025
AN ACT CONCERNING THE PUBLICATION OF MUNICIPAL LEGAL
NOTICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 1-2 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2025): 2
(a) As used in this section, "chief elected official" has the same 3
meaning as provided in section 4-124i, "municipality" means any town, 4
city or borough, and "sufficient circulation" means a total readership of 5
not less than fifteen per cent of the households in a municipality, as 6
determined by the most recent decennial census, where such readership 7
is calculated as the sum of the average number of print and online 8
subscribers and unique online visitors in such municipality each month 9
over the preceding twelve-month period. 10
(b) Each provision of the general statutes, the special acts or the 11
charter, ordinances or regulations of any [town, city or borough which] 12
municipality that requires the insertion of an advertisement of a legal 13
notice in a daily newspaper shall, until June 30, 2026, be construed to 14
permit such advertisement to be inserted in a weekly newspaper. [; but 15
this section shall not be construed to reduce or otherwise affect the time 16
required by law for giving such notice.] 17
(c) (1) During the period beginning July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 18
2027, each provision of the general statutes, the special acts or the 19
charter, ordinances or regulations of any municipality that requires the 20 Substitute Bill No. 6812
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insertion of an advertisement of a legal notice in a newspaper shall be 21
construed to require such advertisement (A) in the daily or weekly 22
newspaper selected in accordance with subsection (d) of this section, or 23
(B) if no newspaper is determined to have sufficient circulation and 24
therefore not selected, on the Internet web site of such municipality, in 25
accordance with subsection (e) of this section. 26
(2) On and after July 1, 2027, each provision of the general statutes, 27
the special acts or the charter, ordinances or regulations of any 28
municipality that requires the insertion of an advertisement of a legal 29
notice in a newspaper shall be construed to require such advertisement 30
(A) in the daily or weekly newspaper selected in accordance with 31
subsection (d) of this section, if such newspaper is determined to have 32
sufficient circulation and therefore selected, and (B) on the Internet web 33
site of such municipality, in accordance with the provisions of 34
subsection (e) of this section. 35
(d) (1) Not later than April 30, 2026, and not less than every two years 36
thereafter, the chief elected official of each municipality shall identify 37
each daily or weekly newspaper that publishes or seeks to publish legal 38
notices in such municipality and determine whether each such 39
newspaper has sufficient circulation. Each determination by such 40
official that a newspaper has sufficient circulation shall be based on data 41
provided by each such newspaper, including, but not limited to, the 42
average number of print and online subscribers and unique online 43
visitors in such municipality each month over the preceding twelve-44
month period. Such data shall be provided in a form and manner 45
prescribed by such official. 46
(2) Not later than June 30, 2026, and not less than every two years 47
thereafter, the chief elected official of each municipality that identifies 48
one or more daily or weekly newspapers having sufficient circulation 49
pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection shall select one such 50
newspaper to publish legal notices in such municipality. If such chief 51
elected official identifies two or more such newspapers, such selection 52
shall be based on criteria developed by such chief elected official. 53 Substitute Bill No. 6812
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(e) Each municipality required to publish legal notices on the Internet 54
web site of such municipality pursuant to subsection (c) of this section 55
shall (1) post a link on the home page of such Internet web site through 56
which the public may access such legal notices, (2) maintain each such 57
legal notice on such Internet web site for a period of not less than ninety 58
days, and (3) (A) file a copy of each such legal notice in the office of the 59
clerk of the municipality on the day such legal notice is published on 60
such Internet web site, or (B) transmit a copy of each such legal notice 61
by electronic mail to the regional council of governments for the region 62
in which such municipality is located. 63
(f) Whenever notice of any action or other proceeding is required to 64
be given by publication in a newspaper, either by statute or order of 65
court, the newspaper selected for that purpose, unless otherwise 66
expressly prescribed, shall be one having a substantial circulation in the 67
town in which at least one of the parties, for whose benefit such notice 68
is given, resides. 69
(g) Any error in a legal notice published by a municipality in 70
accordance with this section that is not attributable to such municipality 71
shall not affect the validity of such notice. Nothing in this section shall 72
be construed to reduce or otherwise affect the time required by law for 73
giving legal notice. 74
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 1-2
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (c)(1)(B), "therefore not" was inserted before "selected", in
Subsec. (c)(2)(A), "therefore" was inserted before the second occurrence
of "selected", and in Subsec. (e)(2) "publish" was changed to "maintain",
for clarity.
PD Joint Favorable