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| 2 | 2 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1111 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1279 |
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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 | | John C. Velis |
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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 legal advertisements in online-only newspapers. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :John C. VelisHampden and Hampshire 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1111 FILED ON: 1/15/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1279 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Mr. Velis, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1279) of John C. Velis for legislation |
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| 19 | 19 | | relative to legal advertisements in online-only newspapers. The Judiciary. |
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| 20 | 20 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEE SENATE, NO. 1137 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 22 | 22 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 23 | 23 | | _______________ |
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| 24 | 24 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 25 | 25 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 26 | 26 | | _______________ |
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| 27 | 27 | | An Act relative to legal advertisements in online-only newspapers. |
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| 28 | 28 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 29 | 29 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 30 | 30 | | 1 SECTION 1. Section 13 of Chapter 4 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 |
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| 31 | 31 | | 2Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (b) and inserting in place thereof |
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| 32 | 32 | | 3the following subsection:- |
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| 33 | 33 | | 4 (b) If a person, corporation, state agency, including its political subdivisions, a state |
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| 34 | 34 | | 5authority, including its political subdivisions, municipality, including its political subdivisions, or |
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| 35 | 35 | | 6other legal entity is required by a statute, ordinance, by-law or judicial order to publish a legal |
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| 36 | 36 | | 7notice in a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation, the person, corporation, agency, |
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| 37 | 37 | | 8authority, municipality or other legal entity may satisfy such requirement by one or more of the |
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| 38 | 38 | | 9following means: |
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| 39 | 39 | | 10 (1) a print newspaper of local or general circulation; 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 11 (2) newspaper’s website, including on-line only newspaper publications; |
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| 41 | 41 | | 12 (3) a statewide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices; or |
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| 42 | 42 | | 13 (4) a city or town-wide website that may be maintained as a repository for such notices; |
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| 43 | 43 | | 14 SECTION 2. Subsection (d) of said section 13 of said chapter 4, as so appearing, is |
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| 44 | 44 | | 15hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- An error in a legal notice published on a |
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| 45 | 45 | | 16newspaper's website, statewide website, or city or town-wide website that is the result of (1) an |
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| 46 | 46 | | 17error of the website operator; or (2) a temporary website outage or service interruption that |
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| 47 | 47 | | 18prevents the publication or display of a legal notice on the website, shall not constitute a defect in |
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| 48 | 48 | | 19publication of the legal notice; provided, however, that the legal notice appears correctly on |
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| 49 | 49 | | 20either the newspaper's website, the statewide website, or city or town-wide website and satisfies |
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| 50 | 50 | | 21all other legal notice requirements. |
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| 51 | 51 | | 22 SECTION 3. Section 11 of Chapter 40A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby |
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| 52 | 52 | | 23amended by inserting the following sentence at the end of the first paragraph:- |
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| 53 | 53 | | 24 A city or town may permit that all notices of public hearings be published: (i) in a local |
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| 54 | 54 | | 25newspaper, either in electronic or paper format; or (ii) on the official city or town-wide website |
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| 55 | 55 | | 26to satisfy this section. |
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