(Reprinted with amendments adopted on April 20, 2023)
FIRST REPRINT S.B. 22
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SENATE BILL NO. 22–COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
(ON BEHALF OF THE NEVADA ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES)
PREFILED NOVEMBER 16, 2022
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Referred to Committee on Government Affairs
SUMMARY—Revises provisions relating to the publication of
legal notices. (BDR 19-390)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State: No.
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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to legal notices; authorizing, under certain
circumstances, the publication of a legal notice or
advertisement on the Internet website of a newspaper;
making various other changes relating to legal notices and
advertisements; and providing other matters properly
relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law requires the publication of any and all legal notices and 1
advertisements in certain newspapers of general circulation and establishes 2
procedures and requirements for such publication. (NRS 238.020, 238.030) Section 3
1 of this bill authorizes the additional publication of a legal notice or advertisement 4
on the Internet website of such a newspaper. Section 2 of this bill makes a 5
conforming change to provide that, with certain exceptions, the Internet website of 6
such a newspaper is a competent means for the publication of legal notices and 7
advertisements. 8
Existing law provides that whenever any legal notice or advertisement is 9
required by law to be given by publication, with certain exceptions, the legal notice 10
or advertisement must be published at least once a week, consecutively, for not less 11
than the full period of time so required in a qualified, legal and competent 12
newspaper. (NRS 238.060) Section 3 of this bill provides that if a legal notice or 13
advertisement is published on the Internet website of a qualified, legal and 14
competent newspaper: (1) an error in the legal notice or advertisement made by the 15
newspaper, a temporary Internet website outage or service interruption that 16
prevents the posting or display of the legal notice or advertisement is harmless; and 17
(2) the legal notice or advertisement shall be deemed sufficient provided that the 18
legal notice or advertisement is printed and published in a qualified, legal and 19
competent newspaper. 20
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Existing law provides that any and every legal notice or advertisement that is 21
published in a newspaper in violation of certain provisions of law is void. (NRS 22
238.080) Section 4 of this bill provides that any and every legal notice or 23
advertisement published on an Internet website maintained by a newspaper in 24
violation of certain provisions of law is void. 25
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. NRS 238.030 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1
238.030 1. [Any] Except as otherwise provided in this 2
section, any and all legal notices or advertisements shall be 3
published only in a daily, a triweekly, a semiweekly, a weekly, or a 4
semimonthly newspaper of general circulation and printed in whole 5
or in part in the county in which the notice or advertisement is 6
required to be published, which newspaper if published: 7
(a) Triweekly, semiweekly, weekly, or semimonthly, shall have 8
been so published in the county, continuously and uninterruptedly, 9
during the period of at least 104 consecutive weeks next prior to the 10
first issue thereof containing any such legal notice or advertisement. 11
(b) Daily, shall have been so published in the county, 12
uninterruptedly and continuously, during the period of at least 1 year 13
next prior to the first issue thereof containing any such legal notice 14
or advertisement. 15
2. [The mere] Any legal notice or advertisement may be 16
additionally published on the Internet website of a newspaper 17
described in subsection 1. If a legal notice or advertisement is 18
published on the Internet website of a newspaper described in 19
subsection 1, the newspaper must publish on its Internet website 20
the mailing address and telephone number of the state or local 21
governmental agency by which a person may request or obtain a 22
copy of the legal notice or advertisement. 23
3. A change in [the] : 24
(a) The name of any newspaper, or the removal of the principal 25
business office or seat of publication of any newspaper from one 26
place to another in the same county shall not break or affect the 27
continuity in the publication of any such newspaper if the same [is 28
in fact] newspaper is continuously and uninterruptedly printed and 29
published within the county . [as herein provided.] 30
(b) The Internet address of the website of any newspaper on 31
which a legal notice or advertisement is published does not break 32
or affect the continuity in the publication of the legal notice or 33
advertisement. 34
[3.] 4. A newspaper shall not lose its rights as a legal 35
publication if any of the following conditions maintain: 36
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(a) If by reason of a strike or other good cause it should suspend 1
publication; but the period shall not exceed 30 days in any calendar 2
year. 3
(b) If by reason of generally recognized economic stress of a 4
serious nature over which the publisher has no control it shall be 5
necessary to suspend publication for a period not to exceed 2 years. 6
The provisions of this paragraph shall apply only in the case of 7
publications that have been operating continuously for a period of 5 8
years prior to such suspension. Any legal notice which fails of 9
publication for the required number of insertions for such reason 10
shall not be declared illegal if publication has been made in one 11
issue of the publication and is resumed within a reasonable period. 12
[4.] 5. If in any county in this State there shall not have been 13
published therein any newspaper or newspapers for the prescribed 14
period, at the time when any such legal notice or advertisement is 15
required to be published, then such legal notice or advertisement 16
may be published [in] : 17
(a) In any newspaper or newspapers having a general circulation 18
and printed and published in whole or in part in the county [. 19
5.] ; and 20
(b) On the Internet website of any newspaper or newspapers 21
having a general circulation and printed and published in whole 22
or in part in the county. 23
6. The time limitations in subsection 1 do not apply to a newly 24
established newspaper printed and published in: 25
(a) An incorporated city if, at the time such newspaper is 26
established, there is no other newspaper printed and published in 27
such city. 28
(b) A county if, at the time such newspaper is established, there 29
is no other newspaper printed and published in such county. 30
Sec. 2. NRS 238.050 is hereby amended to read as follows: 31
238.050 Except as otherwise provided by law in express terms 32
or by necessary implication, daily newspapers, triweekly 33
newspapers, semiweekly newspapers, weekly newspapers and 34
semimonthly newspapers and the Internet websites of such 35
newspapers shall all be equally competent as the means for the 36
publication of all legal notices and advertisements. 37
Sec. 3. NRS 238.060 is hereby amended to read as follows: 38
238.060 1. Whenever any legal notice or advertisement is 39
required by law to be given by publication, unless otherwise 40
specified, such provision shall be satisfied , except as otherwise 41
provided in subsection 2, by publishing the required legal notice or 42
advertisement, at least once a week, consecutively, for not less than 43
the full period of time so required in a qualified, legal and 44
competent newspaper. 45
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2. If a legal notice or advertisement is published on the 1
Internet website of a qualified, legal and competent newspaper: 2
(a) An error in the legal notice or advertisement made by the 3
newspaper, a temporary Internet website outage or service 4
interruption that prevents the posting or display of a notice is 5
harmless; and 6
(b) The legal notice or advertisement shall be deemed 7
sufficient provided that the legal notice or advertisement is printed 8
and published in a qualified, legal and competent newspaper 9
pursuant to this chapter. 10
Sec. 4. NRS 238.080 is hereby amended to read as follows: 11
238.080 Any and every legal notice or advertisement published 12
in a newspaper or on an Internet website maintained by a 13
newspaper in violation of any of the provisions of NRS 238.010 to 14
238.080, inclusive, shall be absolutely void. 15
H