On June 30, 2025, Governor Phil Murphy signed S-4654 into law, amending the legal notice requirements under the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).
Beginning March 1, 2026:
- Public entities must publish their legal notices on their website rather than in newspapers.
- Notices must appear on the public entities’ websites for at least one week, then be archived for one year.
- Public entities are required to send their website link to the Secretary of State for inclusion on the Secretary of State’s website.
- Public entities must advertise twice per month in an online news publication that provides information about where their legal notices can be obtained on the public entity’s website.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 35:3-1 et seq., the Chester Library publishes all legal notices in full on its official website. The complete text of each notice is available to the public, free of charge, at: https://chesterlib.org/legal-notices/
In addition, the New Jersey Secretary of State maintains a centralized webpage with links to the legal notices pages of local governmental units across the state. This resource is available to the public, free of charge, at: https://www.nj.gov/state/statewide-legal-notices-list.shtml