99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
HB0261

 

Introduced , by Rep. Joe Sosnowski

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
715 ILCS 5/2.2 new
715 ILCS 5/3.1  from Ch. 100, par. 3.1
715 ILCS 5/5  from Ch. 100, par. 5
715 ILCS 5/2.1 rep.
715 ILCS 10/1  from Ch. 100, par. 10
715 ILCS 10/2  from Ch. 100, par. 10.1

    Amends the Notice By Publication Act. Provides that whenever a governmental unit is required to provide notice by publication in a newspaper by law, order of court, or contract, the governmental unit may publish the notice on an official government website instead of in a newspaper. Provides conditions concerning the availability and format of the notice webpage. Repeals a Section concerning the placement of published notices on a statewide website and makes corresponding changes throughout the Act and in the Newspaper Legal Notice Act. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning notices.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Notice By Publication Act is amended by
5changing Sections 3.1 and 5 and by adding Section 2.2 as
6follows:
 
7    (715 ILCS 5/2.2 new)
8    Sec. 2.2. Electronic publication.
9    (a) Whenever a governmental unit is required to provide
10notice by publication in a newspaper by law, order of court, or
11contract, the governmental unit may publish the notice on an
12official government website instead of in a newspaper.
13    (b) The governmental unit, or the host of the notice
14website, shall enter into a service-level agreement with an
15Internet service provider that guarantees the site is
16accessible to the public over the Internet at least 98% of the
17time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
18    (c) The governmental unit's official Internet website
19shall prominently display a link to the notice web page, which
20shall be an index web page, containing a list of all current
21legal notices of the unit, with links to the full text of those
22notices. The index web page shall also contain a search
23function and other features that improve public accessibility

 

 

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1to legal notices.
2    (d) Whenever an individual is unable to access an
3electronic publication of a legal notice, the issuing
4governmental unit shall provide a copy of the notice to the
5individual free of charge.
6    (e) Notices shall remain available on the website at least
7until the last posting date required by law has expired or
8until the event described in a notice has taken place,
9whichever is later.
 
10    (715 ILCS 5/3.1)  (from Ch. 100, par. 3.1)
11    Sec. 3.1. When any notice is required by law, or order of
12court, to be published in any newspaper, publication of such
13notice shall include the printing of such notice in the total
14circulation of each edition on the date of publication of the
15newspaper in which the notice is published; and the newspaper
16publishing the notice shall, at no additional cost to
17government, place the notice on the statewide website
18established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority
19of Illinois newspapers as a repository for such notices. All
20notices required for publication by this Act shall remain legal
21and valid for all purposes when any error that occurs pursuant
22to the requirements of this Section for placement of the notice
23on the statewide website is the fault of the printer.
24(Source: P.A. 96-1144, eff. 12-31-12.)
 

 

 

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1    (715 ILCS 5/5)  (from Ch. 100, par. 5)
2    Sec. 5. When any notice is required by law or contract to
3be published in a newspaper (unless otherwise expressly
4provided in the contract), it shall be intended to be in a
5secular newspaper of general circulation, published in the
6city, town or county, or some newspaper specially authorized by
7law to publish legal notices, in the city, town, or county. If
8there is no newspaper published in the county in which the city
9or town is located, notice shall be given in a secular
10newspaper, as defined in this Act, that is published in an
11adjoining county having general circulation within the city or
12town. Unless otherwise expressly provided in the contract, the
13term "newspaper" means a newspaper
14    (a) which consists of not less than 4 pages of printed
15matter and contains at least 100 square inches of printed
16matter per page; and
17    (b) which is printed through the use of one of the
18conventional and generally recognized printing processes such
19as letterpress, lithography or gravure; and
20    (c) which annually averages at least 25% news content per
21issue; or which annually averages at least 1,000 column inches
22of news content per issue, the term "news content" meaning for
23the purposes of this Act any printed matter other than
24advertising; and
25    (d) which publishes miscellaneous reading matter, legal or
26other announcements and notices, and news and information

 

 

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1concerning current happenings and passing events of a
2political, social, religious, commercial, financial or legal
3nature, and advertisements or bulletins; and
4    (e) which has been continuously published at regular
5intervals of at least once each week with a minimum of 50
6issues per year, for at least one year prior to the first
7publication of the notice; or which is a successor to a
8newspaper as herein defined with no interruption of publication
9of more than 30 days; or which is a merged or consolidated
10newspaper formed by the merger or consolidation of two or more
11newspapers, one of which has been continuously published at
12regular intervals of at least once each week with a minimum of
1350 issues per year, for at least one year prior to the first
14publication of the notice. A newspaper shall be considered as
15continuously or regularly published although its publication
16has been suspended, where such suspension was caused by fire or
17an Act of God or by a labor dispute or by its owner, publisher,
18managing editor or other essential employee entering the active
19military service of the United States, if the newspaper was
20continuously or regularly published for at least one year prior
21to its suspension and if its publication is resumed at any time
22not later than 12 months after such fire or Act of God, or if
23its publication is resumed at any time within 12 months after
24the termination of the labor dispute, or if its publication is
25resumed at any time within 12 months after the termination of
26the war in connection with which such persons entered such

 

 

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1military service. ; and
2    (f) (Blank). which has the capability of placing notices
3required pursuant to this Act on a daily or weekly basis on the
4statewide website as required by Section 2.1.
5(Source: P.A. 96-59, eff. 7-23-09; 96-1144, eff. 12-31-12.)
 
6    (715 ILCS 5/2.1 rep.)
7    Section 10. The Notice By Publication Act is amended by
8repealing Section 2.1.
 
9    Section 15. The Newspaper Legal Notice Act is amended by
10changing Sections 1 and 2 as follows:
 
11    (715 ILCS 10/1)  (from Ch. 100, par. 10)
12    Sec. 1. Whenever it is required by law that any legal
13notice or publication shall be published in a newspaper in this
14State, it shall be held to mean a newspaper
15    (a) which consists of not less than 4 pages of printed
16matter and contains at least 100 square inches of printed
17matter per page; and
18    (b) which is printed through the use of one of the
19conventional and generally recognized printing processes such
20as letterpress, lithography or gravure; and
21    (c) which annually averages at least 25% news content per
22issue; or which annually averages at least 1,000 column inches
23of news content per issue, the term "news content" meaning for

 

 

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1the purposes of this Act any printed matter other than
2advertising; and
3    (d) which publishes miscellaneous reading matter, legal or
4other announcements and notices, and news and information
5concerning current happenings and passing events of a
6political, social, religious, commercial, financial or legal
7nature, and advertisements or bulletins; and
8    (e) which has been continuously published at regular
9intervals of at least once each week with a minimum of 50
10issues per year, for at least one year prior to the first
11publication of the notice; or which is a successor to a
12newspaper as herein defined with no interruption of publication
13of more than 30 days; or which is a merged or consolidated
14newspaper formed by the merger or consolidation of two or more
15newspapers, one of which has been continuously published at
16regular intervals of at least once each week with a minimum of
1750 issues per year for at least one year prior to the first
18publication of the notice. A newspaper shall be considered as
19continuously or regularly published although its publication
20has been suspended, where such suspension was caused by fire or
21an Act of God or by a labor dispute or by its owner, publisher,
22managing editor or other essential employee entering the active
23military service of the United States, if the newspaper was
24continuously or regularly published for at least one year prior
25to its suspension and if its publication is resumed at any time
26not later than 12 months after such fire or Act of God, or if

 

 

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1its publication is resumed at any time within 12 months after
2the termination of the labor dispute, or if its publication is
3resumed at any time within 12 months after the termination of
4the war in connection with which such persons entered such
5military service. ; and
6    (f) (Blank). which has the capability of placing, at no
7additional cost to government, notices required pursuant to
8this Act on a daily or weekly basis on the statewide website
9established and maintained as a joint venture by the majority
10of Illinois newspapers as a repository for such notices.
11(Source: P.A. 96-59, eff. 7-23-09; 96-1144, eff. 12-31-12.)
 
12    (715 ILCS 10/2)  (from Ch. 100, par. 10.1)
13    Sec. 2. When any legal notice is required by law to be
14published in any newspaper, such notice shall include the
15printing of such notice in the total circulation of each
16edition on the date of publication of the newspaper in which
17the notice is published; and the newspaper publishing the
18notice shall, at no additional cost to government, place the
19notice on the statewide website established and maintained as a
20joint venture of the majority of Illinois newspapers as a
21repository for such notices. All notices required for
22publication by this Act shall remain legal and valid for all
23purposes when any error that occurs pursuant to the
24requirements of this Section in the requirement for placement
25of the notice on the statewide website is the fault of the

 

 

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1printer.
2(Source: P.A. 96-1144, eff. 12-31-12.)
 
3    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
4becoming law.