The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill Monday that would temporarily allow public bodies to publish public notices in news outlets in a digital-only format.

Local governments have been contending with a looming public notice crisis since The Star-Ledger announced in October it would print its last physical copy on Feb. 2. The bill provides a temporary fix for those agencies and entities subject to laws such as the Open Public Meetings Act, which required public notices to appear in the print edition of a newspaper. The temporary measure will allow those public notices to run in outlets with online editions through March 1, as long as that outlet is an official publication.

Sen. Raj Mukherji, D-Hudson, addressed the committee and said it is “just sad that we have to do this.”

“Our largest daily newspaper [is] … ceasing print,” Mukherji said. “And the Jersey Journal is closing altogether. I think it is just a sad day, and it speaks to an uncertain future in terms of accessing news for our constituents. It is obviously a move we have no choice to make because what are public entities going to do without a print option? But I am saddened.”

The bill, S3957, which was passed unanimously by the committee Monday, would temporarily amend the law to allow public entities to meet their legal obligations by publishing in an outlet that is an official publication but has no print edition. However, such a publication must have had that designation in 2024. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Paul A. Sarlo, D-Bergen, and Sen. Brian P. Stack, D-Hudson.

Thomas J. Cafferty, who leads the media law team at Gibbons and is general counsel for the New Jersey Press Association, testified before the committee in favor of the bill.

“We certainly support this bill as an interim measure to allow newspapers to continue to be eligible to carry official advertising to the extent they previously were, in the event they go wholly digital,” Cafferty said.

Cafferty added that he looks forward to working with the stakeholders and the Legislature during the interim period to craft a solution.

John Burns, who serves as senior legislative counsel to the New Jersey School Boards Association, said that while he thanks the sponsors for the temporary fix, he hopes a more permanent solution comes quickly.

The last-minute fix is in response to an outcry from municipalities and their attorneys who rely on newspapers to run notices for legal proceedings, requests for qualifications, and government actions, among other things.

John Donnadio, the executive director of the New Jersey Association of Counties, testified that he supports the bill. He added the possibility that the ultimate solution might allow the notices to be printed in either online publications or on a state or county website.

Lori Buckelew, deputy executive director and director of government affairs for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, also supported the temporary measure.

"Public notices are to provide our residents with notice of government actions,” Buckelew said. “We should be putting these notices where our residents are getting their news and information from.”