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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3465 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2323 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Alice Hanlon Peisch |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to local journalism. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Alice Hanlon Peisch14th Norfolk1/17/2025Simon Cataldo14th Middlesex2/27/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3465 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2323 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Peisch of Wellesley, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2323) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Alice Hanlon Peisch and Simon Cataldo relative to legal notices required to be published in |
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| 20 | 20 | | newspapers by cities and towns. Municipalities and Regional Government. |
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| 21 | 21 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 22 | 22 | | _______________ |
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| 23 | 23 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 24 | 24 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | An Act relative to local journalism. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 28 | 28 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 29 | 29 | | 1 SECTION 1. The definition of “community news website” in subsection (b) of section 13 |
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| 30 | 30 | | 2of chapter 4 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended |
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| 31 | 31 | | 3by adding the following sentence: - a website that has a newsletter subscription which serves at |
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| 32 | 32 | | 4least fifteen per of the municipality's households. |
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| 33 | 33 | | 5 SECTION 2. Notwithstanding subsection (b) of section 13 of chapter 4 of the General |
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| 34 | 34 | | 6Laws, a municipality and its public schools, their subdivisions, committees, boards, commissions |
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| 35 | 35 | | 7or offices which are required by statute, ordinance, by-law or judicial order to publish a legal |
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| 36 | 36 | | 8notice in a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation, may meet such requirement through 1 |
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| 37 | 37 | | 9or more of the following means: |
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| 38 | 38 | | 10 (i) a print newspaper of local or general circulation; |
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| 39 | 39 | | 11 (ii) the website of a print newspaper of local or general circulation; 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 12 (iii) a community news website that satisfies all criteria for digital publication as |
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| 41 | 41 | | 13set forth in subsection (c) (i)-(iii) of said section 13 of said chapter 4; |
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| 42 | 42 | | 14 (iv) a statewide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices. |
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| 43 | 43 | | 15 SECTION 3. Nothing set forth in this act shall be construed to alter or amend the |
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| 44 | 44 | | 16requirement that a municipality publish legal notices on its municipal website. |
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| 45 | 45 | | 17 SECTION 4. Nothing set forth in this act shall be construed to alter or amend the time or |
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| 46 | 46 | | 18timing of publication of legal notices set forth in the General Laws. |
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| 47 | 47 | | 19 SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. |
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