Public Notices

Best Practices and Resource Guide

August 2018

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Index

INTRODUCTION

BEST PRACTICES

Developing relationships

Promotion

Online

Perspective

Talking Points Doc

RESOURCES

Illinois Compiled Statutes

Qualications for newspapers

FAQs

What to charge

Dierent types of notices



900 Community Drive

Springeld, IL 62703

Phone: 217-241-1300

Fax: 217-241-1301

www.illinoispress.org

www.publicnoticeillinois.com

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Introduction

When it comes to informing local people about local issues, nobody does it better than newspapers.

It’s important that our citizenry participate in our democracy by keeping a careful eye on government aairs. We

all have a civic responsibility to be engaged. Public notices are critical to that engagement process. Public notices

and an informed public guarantee government is there to serve the people, not the few in power.

Newspapers serve as an independent third-party to ensure that the public is informed in a timely manner and

that those notices are archived for public viewing at any time.

During every legislative session there is an attempt by some legislators to take public notices out of newspapers

and instead post them on the internet. At rst blush, it sounds like a great concept, as everybody goes to the web

and it would save local units of government the fee that newspapers charge for notices, but it’s not.

Granted, there is a nancial incentive for newspapers to continue to publish notices, but the bigger picture is that public notices are intended

to let citizens know about the goings-on in government. After all, notices are required by statute to ensure government transparency.

Certain legislators believe that since everybody has internet access, it’s the right thing to do. Would these notices appear on the state

transparency site, ITAP, or would they be posted on each unit of governments’ site? Keep in mind there are over 7,000 units of local

government in the state and the majority don’t have websites. So, if there is no website, where does the information go? Nowhere. And

not everyone has internet access.

Educating our readers on the value of public notices is one of our most important tools to protect the public’s right to know. We want you

to use this guide as a resource to ensure that public notices remain in newspapers.

SAM FISHER

President & Chief Executive

Ocer

ssher@illinoispress.org

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Relationships

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH DECISION MAKERS

More and more, we nd that many publishers and editors have a limited or no relationship with legislators. It

doesn’t look good when the only time newspaper leaders reach out to the legislators is when public notices are

threatened. The IPA Government Relations team is happy to assist you in building these relationships.

We encourage you to meet with your legislators several times a year to build that relationship. Saving public

notices is only one benet you’ll nd from meeting with your representatives.

This isn’t just a legislative issue. In recent years, local governments have led the charge to remove notices from

papers. Having a working relationship with local elected ocials is incredibly important. Policy makers, such as

these, include county board members, aldermen, school board members and county-wide elected ocials.

In meetings with decision makers, when it comes to legals, there are three main points to address.

One, we need to move the decision makers beyond the idea of what public notices cost to the importance of

legals and the process they play in an informed public.

Two, having public notices handled by newspapers protects government ocials, giving them a third-party

check, which protects them from accusations of not releasing proper information or having their systems hacked

and their information changed.

Three, we need to dismiss the awed belief that newspapers are dead. We can certainly acknowledge the

problems facing newspapers, but they are not remotely as bad as some people like to report, and in many cases,

our readership has never been better.

JOSH SHARP

Executive Vice President &

Chief Operating Ocer

jsharp@illinoispress.org

OWEN IRWIN

Assistant Vice President,

Government Relations

oirwin@illinoispress.org

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Promotion

RUN HOUSE ADS

Newspapers typically run ads to promote many features of

what they do, but few newspapers run house ads about the

importance of public notices and the importance of newspapers

in providing that service.

The Illinois Press Association has house ads you can use. They

focus on public notices, as well as the public notice website,

PublicNoticeIllinois.com, which all public notices should be

uploaded to, according to state statute.

The ads are located at: www.illinoispress.org/PNIads

You can also nd public notice ads and more information for

your use at The Public Notice Resource Center’s website:

pnrc.net.

Giving power

to the people

Illinois Governments

keeping you informed

To know more, read public notices

in today’s newspaper or go to

PublicNoticeIllinois.com

Brought to you by your newspaper and the Illinois Press Association

Illinois’ business

is YOUR business

To know more, read public notices

in today’s newspaper or go to

PublicNoticeIllinois.com

Brought to you by your newspaper and the Illinois Press Association

Best Practices and Resource Guide

MAKE THE PUBLIC NOTICE PAGES MORE

READER FRIENDLY

For many newspapers, legal notices are buried

underneath the classied section with little thought.

You’re also bound to certain state regulations on what

you can do to make them more reader friendly, but

that doesn’t mean you can’t make them stand out and

signify their importance.

To the left is an image of the legal page of the Jackson

Hole News & Guide in Wyoming. The public notice page

has its own section front, as well as information about

public notices at the very top. The text reads:

What is a Public Notice?

These pages include a variety of notices required by

city, county and state statutes and regulations. These

notices include meeting agendas, proposed city and

county ordinances, tax and budget information, liquor

licenses, foreclosures, summonses and bid invitations.

We recommend doing something similar.

TEASE YOUR LEGAL SECTION ON THE

FRONT PAGE

Is there something of great interest in the legals

section? Tease it. Send people to the section, and show

that you, as the publisher/editor, nd such value in the

content of legals that you’re placing it on Page 1.

USE THEM IN STORIES

Make sure reporters and editors are going through the legals. There are stories in there. And when they write the stories, don’t be afraid

to say where the information was found.

Best Practices – Print

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Print

LEARNING FROM THE MASTER: HOW JIM LOCKWOOD WEAVES AWARDWINNING JOURNALISM OUT OF PUBLIC

NOTICES

Public notice journalism is an art, according to Jim Lockwood, award-winning city government reporter for the Scranton (Pennsylvania)

Times-Tribune. But he promises that with practice, any reporter can become an expert in ferreting out important news articles from

public notices and keep readers in the know.

LOCKWOOD’S THREE Rs OF PUBLIC NOTICE JOURNALISM

1. Read them. They are right under your nose, in your own newspaper, and there is really no excuse not to read them.

2. Report on them. You will see something in public notices that will spark your curiosity. When that happens, dig a little deeper and

report on what you nd.

3. Reference them. Don’t be afraid to attribute information in your article to the public notice you are reporting on. Just treat it like any

other source and write, “according to a public notice published in this newspaper.” This type of attribution adds transparency to your

reporting and helps readers understand the importance of publishing notices in newspapers.

BE AN EARLY BIRD: Lockwood advises daily newspaper reporters to read their paper’s public notices rst thing in the morning.

Sometimes they announce meetings, hearings and other events and initiatives taking place that same day. “Don’t wait until 5 p.m. or

you might miss something important,” he said. Weekly newspaper reporters shouldn’t dally either.

PENETRATE THE LEGALESE: Often lawyers write public notices using legal terms, which can be hard for readers to comprehend.

“The more you read them, the better you’ll get at understanding them,” Lockwood says. “You’ll learn the patterns and you will be able to

get to the point quicker.” Sometimes the “nut graph” that tells you what the notice is really about will be the third line from the bottom.

EXERCISE YOUR CURIOSITY: Sometimes getting good public notice stories comes from old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting.

Lockwood recalls seeing a notice advertising a hearing on condemned and abandoned property, which consisted of two boats and a trailer.

It listed the date and time for the sale at the county courthouse and nothing else. His curiosity piqued, he dug a little deeper and discovered

the notice was a poorly-worded announcement that someone had a tax lien and had been required to liquidate their boat and trailer.

WHERE TO LOOK FOR PUBLIC NOTICES: Your own newspaper is a good source for public notices, but if your paper is not the

newspaper of record in your town or if other newspapers in your city or county run notices, then turn to them. Often public notices are

required to be posted at the courthouse or town hall and you can read them there as well. Another resource is the national public notice

directory, accessible at http://www.pnrc.net/nd-a-notice/

“When you read public notices, ask yourself, ‘What is going on here? What is the real story?’” Lockwood says. “Keep pulling away layers,

like an onion, and keep those layers stored away for reference.”

Some notices seem insignicant, but one thing might lead to another until you have an important story that can be spun o into

columns, editorials and even award-winning journalism packages.

By Teri Saylor for the Public Notice Resource Center

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Online

DON’T PLACE PUBLIC NOTICES

BEHIND A PAYWALL

On your news website, make public

notices easy to nd and easily

accessible. Many newspapers have

paywalls but don’t put classieds

behind the paywall.

We think the same should be true for

how you treat public notices.

FIND BETTER PLACEMENT FOR

PUBLIC NOTICES ON YOUR

WEBSITE

The majority of newspapers place

public notices as a sub category

of classieds. We recommend you

nd your own spot on the “toolbar”

of your website, or have your own

block dedicated to public notices. The

readership of public notices will likely

be higher.

DON’T HAVE THEM ON YOUR SITE?

1. Try the Iframe from PublicNoticeIllinois.com (example shown above), by simply inserting the ID for your publication found in the

newspaper admin portal on PNI. Utilize the following link: http://publicnoticeillinois.com/RecentNoticesByPubl.aspx?id=XXX

Simply replace XXX with your publication ID, embed this into the HTML code on your website and you now have your newspaper’s

notices embedded on your web page.

2. Utilize the hotlink

This image has been promoted as the icon for public notices from press associations around the country as a promotional tool

for public notice websites.

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Online

On your site you can link the hotlink image to: https://www.publicnoticeillinois.com/search.aspx?paperid=XXX for a direct link to your

notices on the PublicNoticeIllinois.com. Simply replace XXX with your publication ID (as found in the newspaper admin portal on PNI).

Be sure to share the hotlink with your county! Supply them with a direct link to the county’s notices on PNI, utilizing the following URL:

https://www.publicnoticeillinois.com/search.aspx?countyid=1

Contact the IPA for your county ID (the above example links to Adams County). Questions – contact Ron Kline (rkline@illinoispress.org)

or Kate Richardson (krichardson@illinoispress.org)

ENSURE YOU’RE UPLOADING THE FULL ISSUE OF YOUR NEWSPAPER TO FTP.IPAMEDIASERVICES.COM

In Illinois, we’ve made it easy for your notices to post on PublicNoticeIllinois.com. Just send us a PDF copy of each issue of your

newspaper on or before your publication day through ftp.ipamediaservices.com (or members may upload directly at illinoispress.org)

and we will clip and upload your notices for you! Email Kate Richardson (krichardson@illinoispress.org) for more details.

For newspapers that have the capability, direct feeds to PublicNoticeIllinois.com may be set up. The rst step is to reach out to your

database provider to ask about your options, or you may contact Ron Kline (rkline@illinoispress.org) for more information.

There are three main reasons you should upload to your paper to ftp.ipamediaservices.com so that we can upload your notices to

PublicNoticeIllinois.com.

1. It’s state law that all notices published are uploaded to the site, and you could lose your qualication and designation as a paper of

record by not doing so.

2. PNI creates a clearinghouse for all Illinois public notices, in addition to push notications, making it easier for the public to get

information through you, the third-party provider.

3. PublicNoticeIllinois.com helps us ght o attempts to have the government place legal notices on their websites. We already have

a public notice site, so there is no need for them to create one. If you don’t upload your newspaper to the IPA or send a direct feed, it

hurts our claim that we are the third-party system of record.

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Perspective

CHANGE THE ARGUMENT

When legals come under attack, it is almost always about how the government

entities could save money by not placing such notices in newspapers. The following

are some common claims made by government ocials and counter arguments.

CLAIM:

Placing legals online is a free option.

COUNTER ARGUMENT:

This is simply not true as it costs both the government and the public to place legals

online, and even more if the government were to upload to their own sites.

Costs for the government agency include: There is an employee(s) cost to upload.

There are website development costs. There are website maintenance costs. There

are internet costs.

Costs for the public include: There is a cost for computers. There is a cost for internet

access (if they have access). There is the cost of time to nd all the applicable government websites to nd the legal notices, which

ranges into thousands of websites that residents would have to search.

There is also the potential cost of litigation against public bodies that fail to give notice of pending government actions. Studies have

shown that this is a very real concern when considering public policy that allows government bodies to report on themselves.

Existing laws are already on the books in Illinois requiring certain information – things like meeting agendas and minutes – to be posted

and readily available on government websites. It’s the law. Yet a recent study by the Citizens Advocacy Center (CAC) for the Illinois Press

Association audited 385 public bodies with websites found that only 71.26 percent complied with posting an agenda, and only 73.87

percent with posting approved meeting minutes as required by the Open Meetings Act.

With PublicNoticeIllinois.com, all notices are in one location, at no cost to the public or the government. It is a public service to our

readers, powered by Illinois’ newspapers, because we believe in the public’s right to be aware of government activities.

It should be noted that PublicNoticeIllinois.com does not replace the value of having public notices/legals in a newspaper. The ocial

legal notice record-keeper is still the newspaper, since it provides third-party verication and a permanent record.

1. Illinois Press Association, 2018

Best Practices and Resource Guide

CLAIM:

We would rather use money for “vital” public services.

COUNTER ARGUMENT:

Government ocials need to know that providing transparency and accessibility to their current actions and/or records is, in fact, a vital

public service.

And newspapers have the greatest reach to provide that vital public service with the added benet of being a third-party entity, which

provides protection for government ocials from accusations, while also providing both a permanent record in the paper and online

access via PublicNoticeIllinois.com.

Furthermore, it would be wise to look at how much each government entity spends on public notices in your paper, and then compare

it to the overall government budget.

It’s easy for them to say it costs a certain amount that sounds big, but when put in context of a comparison to an overall budget, it’s a

small number to keep the public informed.

Best Practices – Perspective

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Perspective

CLAIM:

With falling circulation, newspapers no longer make sense to house public notices.

COUNTER ARGUMENT:

When this argument is made, it is typically over exaggerated by the numbers.

For example, if you are meeting with a state senator or representative, and he or she were to claim that newspaper circulation is falling

and no one reads newspapers anymore, then there is an opportunity to inform and change the narrative.

According to a 2016 study by Nielsen Scarborough, “more than 169 million adults in the U.S. read a newspaper in a month—whether it

be in print, on a website or via mobile app. In total, newspapers reach 69 percent of the U.S. population in a given month.”

Additionally, many critics simply use circulation numbers, but fail to include average readership numbers. Further, this does not include

the website trac from online subscribers.

For instance, in 2017, the total yearly circulation of IPA member newspapers was 482.2 million, with approximately 353.7 million

coming from daily newspapers and 128.6 million coming from weekly newspapers.

And according to a 2018 study by the National

Newspaper Association, 69 percent of community newspaper readers share their newspaper with up to ve other people.

Taking this

into account, we can see that circulation numbers alone do not tell the whole story of audience reach since most readers will end up

sharing their paper with friends, family and co-workers.

In addition, it should be noted that newspaper readers are some of the most civically engaged members of their community. Newspaper

subscribers are generally consistent voters and well-informed citizens. In the 2016 presidential election, 88 percent of community

newspaper readers voted, with 40 percent relying on their newspaper to help them decide about candidates and election issues.

1. Nielsen Scarborough, 2016

2. Illinois Press Association, 2017

3. National Newspaper Association, 2018

4. National Newspaper Association, 2017

Best Practices and Resource Guide

And there is more …

Circulation does not factor in online readership of Illinois’ newspapers. Most newspapers also post legals to their sites. For example, look

at ChicagoTribune.com. For a six-month period, it had nearly 28 million total visits, according to Similarweb.com, which is 378.7 percent

more than Illinois.gov for the same period. CookCountyIL.gov does not boast better results. CookCountyIL.gov only had 265.46 thousand

views during that six-month period. That is 10,323 percent less than the Chicago Tribune’s website.

When you talk about actual readership of newspapers both in print and online, newspaper organizations easily have the state’s 12.8

million population covered.

In short, no information medium reaches more people than newspapers and their professionally operated websites.

It also does not factor in that PublicNoticeIllinois.com creates a clearinghouse for all public notices. So, government ocials are getting

the value and reach of public notices being in newspapers, the third-party verication and permanent record, and those government

entities are also getting a one-stop shop for the public for all legal notices at no extra cost.

1. SimilarWeb, 2018

Best Practices – Perspective

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Talking points

WHY PUBLIC NOTICES ON GOVERNMENT WEBSITES IS A BAD IDEA

• Overall, any internet notice is an inadequate substitute for a printed, xed newspaper notice, although the IPA believes the internet

can be actively used by newspapers to extend the reach of printed notices. The newspaper industry has already made substantial

investments in making sure public notices are available through industry websites, so the public can nd notices both in print and

online without losing the many advantages of a xed, hard-copy notice.

• While Illinois’ Open Meetings Act requires that a public body maintain basic information regarding notices of public meetings, public

meeting agendas, and approved minutes from public meetings on its website, the Illinois Press Association with the Citizen Advocacy

Center found that of the surveyed public bodies, only 51 percent bother to maintain a website.

• Based on the CAC’s overall survey of 825 total public bodies and 419 public bodies with websites, the compliance rate for posting

notice, an agenda, or approved meeting minutes was mediocre at best. Of the 419 public bodies with websites, compliance was 90.93

percent with posting notice, 71.12 percent with posting an agenda, and 73.75 percent with posting approved meeting minutes within

the provisions of OMA. For those public bodies with at least one full-time sta member, compliance was 93.56 percent for posting

notice, 75.74 percent for posting an agenda, 77.23 percent for posting approved meeting minutes, and 76.24 percent for posting a

means of electronic communication.

• When public bodies are not forced by law to publish notices in newspaper, as the CAC data shows, the compliance rates are not

perfect. When looking at lower population areas, the compliance rates fall even more, with most being below 50 percent for posting

agendas and meeting minutes.

• Proposals to eliminate newspaper notices fail to address the fact that local newspapers still have a much broader regular readership

than almost all government websites. Although the public conversation about newspapers tends to focus on the shift to digital,

newspaper readership in small communities is especially strong; 64 percent of adults in such communities read a community

newspaper. Of those readers, 46 percent say newspapers and their websites are their primary source of information.

• Access to the internet remains limited. A 2017 report by the U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2015, 23 percent of citizens did not

have a broadband internet subscription. This number grows to 38 percent when considering households headed by a person aged

65 and older. Additionally, many in the Midwest (24 percent) cannot readily view internet notications due to a lack of internet

subscription.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis reported in 2017 that 53 percent of American households and 55 percent of

Illinois households are not connected to high speed internet.

1. Illinois Press Association, 2018

2. National Newspaper Association, 2018

3. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017

4. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, 2017

Best Practices and Resource Guide

• Internet site-only notications create due process problems for reviewing courts, historians, researchers and archivists. Web

publications are dicult to archive and maintain in an updated fashion without ongoing funding, whereas a printed public notice is

xed in form and time and leaves no doubt as to its authenticity.

• Government entities have no way to ensure there will be appropriated adequate resources to maintain notices in a digital fashion that

permits them to supplement printed, xed notices. Indeed, the president has already eliminated many federal government websites

for budget reasons.

NEWSPAPERS ENSURE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

• Newspapers guard government accountability by acting as an independent third-party. Government ocials must ensure that the

actions of the government are transparent to the general public. Publication of public notices in newspapers, independent third-

parties, helps conrm that the government is accountable to the electorate. When a newspaper publishes a notice, it veries that the

government has provided proper notice to the public. Moving public notices solely to government websites will remove this important

audit role.

• Public notices in newspapers reach the vast majority of Americans. Unlike newspapers, government websites do not reach passive

information seekers. Moving public notices to government websites would require that citizens actively search these sites looking

for public notices. Public notices in newspapers, on the other hand, reach those readers who are not likely to have the time or

inclination to search government websites for public notices. This is bolstered by the fact that “more than 169 million adults in the

U.S. read a newspaper in a month—whether it be in print, on a website or via mobile app. In total, newspapers reach 69 percent

of the U.S. population in a given month.”

If government websites have the same audience reach as newspapers, the data has not

been presented. Newspapers that publish public notices are required by state and local governments to demonstrate readership by

providing a list of paid subscribers, submitting to outside subscription audits or maintaining postal permits.

• Government websites do not provide legal adavits and written proof of publication and a secure and veriable paper trail. State

and local governments, attorneys and private citizens rely on this documentation to ensure that these notices were published timely

and lawfully, as newspapers are required by law to do. Illinois Case Law acknowledges printed legal notices as legal documentation in

court.

1. Nielsen Scarborough, 2016

Best Practices – Talking points

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Best Practices – Talking points

• It is extremely costly for government agencies to create, maintain and secure websites in order to publish public

notices. State and local governments will have to pay consultants or undertake the massive process internally to develop, maintain,

and most importantly, secure websites for the distribution of public notices. Securing websites so that public notices are not altered

or deleted by hackers will be the biggest expense facing state and local governments. With publication in printed newspapers,

government ocials do not have to worry that hackers will put into question whether the public was informed on important public

issues.

• Publishing public notices on government websites would put seniors, minorities and the disabled at a disadvantage.

If public notices are moved to government websites, state and local governments will have diculty notifying senior citizens and

minorities of actions in the public interest. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2015 that 37 percent of senior citizens (65+ years)

do not have access to the internet at home, with blacks at 35 percent and Hispanics at 29 percent.

1. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017

Best Practices and Resource Guide

The law

In order to protect the integrity of the industry and the public notice process, it is important for all members to know what constitutes

a legal newspaper and what to check for in order to make sure that their newspaper is meeting these requirements. Any question as to

whether or not your newspaper is correctly following these guidelines should be directed to the Illinois Press Association Government

Relations sta.

The following items are taken from the Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 715 section 10, the Newspaper Legal Notice Act.

Your publication MUST meet all these requirements in order to be considered a newspaper by Illinois law, and therefore able to publish

legal notices. Each of the following letters corresponds to its subsection in the Newspaper Legal Notice Act.

PAGE AND COLUMN SIZE REQUIREMENTS

(A) A newspaper MUST “consist of not less than four pages printed matter and contains at least 100 square inches of printed matter per

page.” If you are unsure of the size of your paper, measure the dimensions of the columns with a ruler. This requirement does not refer to

the size of the physical paper, but rather the size of the column of print.

PRINTING REQUIREMENTS

(B) To be considered a legal newspaper, the newspaper MUST be printed, “using a conventional and generally recognized printing

process such as letterpress, lithography, or gravure.”

CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

(C) A newspaper MUST “annually average at least 25 percent news content per issue or annually average at least 1,000 column inches of

news content per issue. News content is dened as any printed matter other than advertising.”

(D) A newspaper MUST ”publish miscellaneous reading matter, legal, or other announcements and notices, and news and information

concerning current happenings and passing of events of a political, social, religious, commercial, nancial, or legal nature, and

advertisements or bulletins.”

Resources – Law

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Resources – Law

INTERVAL REQUIREMENTS

(E) A newspaper MUST be published at regular intervals; therefore a legal newspaper is a paper, “which has been continuously

published at regular intervals of at least once each week with a minimum of 50 issues per year, for at least one year prior to the rst

publication of the notice; or which is a successor to a newspaper as herein dened with no interruption of publication of more than

30 days; or which is a merged or consolidated newspaper formed by the merger or consolidation of two or more newspapers, one of

which has been continuously published at regular intervals of at least once each week with a minimum of 50 issues per year for at least

one year prior to the rst publication of the notice. A newspaper shall be considered as continuously or regularly published although

its publication has been suspended, where such suspension was caused by re or an Act of God or by a labor dispute or by its owner,

publisher, managing editor or other essential employee entering the active military service of the United States, if the newspaper was

continuously or regularly published for at least one year prior to its suspension and if its publication is resumed at any time not later

than 12 months after such re or Act of God, or if its publication is resumed at any time within 12 months after the termination of the

labor dispute, or if its publication is resumed at any time within 12 months after the termination of the war in connection with which

such persons entered such military service.”

PUBLIC NOTICE ILLINOIS REQUIREMENT

(F) A newspaper must have “the capability of placing, at no additional cost to government, notices required pursuant to this Act on a

daily or weekly basis on the statewide website established and maintained as a joint venture by the majority of Illinois newspapers as a

repository for such notices.”

Please do not hesitate to contact the IPA Government Relations team with questions regarding your newspaper. The IPA strives to

protect the integrity of public notices.

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Qualications

WHAT ARE QUALIFICATIONS OF A LEGAL NEWSPAPER?

(Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 715 section 10, the Newspaper Legal Notice Act)

1. MUST BE PUBLISHED AT LEAST WEEKLY

REASON: Publications need to run a minimum 50 out of 52 weeks a year per the law. The reasoning is that notices should be in

publications that publish frequently and at regular intervals so the government can provide timely notice and that the public can

consistently nd the notices.

2. MUST MEET THE REQUIREMENTS IN STATUTE OF BEING PUBLISHED IN OR CIRCULATED IN THE AREA IN

WHICH THE NOTICE OR ADVERTISEMENT IS REQUIRED.

REASON: Notices may be required to be published in a certain area to qualify for the notice. For example, a school district notice

may require the newspaper be published in the school district in order to run the notice. Other notices may require a newspaper

simply circulate in the municipality or area the notice is required. The principle is that notices should not be hidden in some faraway

publication, but as close to the aected parties as possible. The language in the Illinois Compiled Statutes will clearly say where the

notice must run (published in or circulated in). If you are uncertain if you should run a notice, please call the IPA Government Relations

sta.

3. MUST HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED AT LEAST 52 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS UNINTERRUPTED AND CONTINUOUSLY

PRIOR TO PUBLISHING FIRST NOTICE.

REASON: This language assures that the publication has community support and is a reliable, timely publication that can complete a

notice’s publication term.

Resources – Law

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Resources – Law

4. MUST UPLOAD LEGAL NOTICES TO PUBLICNOTICEILLINOIS.COM AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THE PERSON OR

ENTITY PLACING THE NOTICE.

REASON: Newspapers agree that public notices should be on the internet. That’s why the IPA supported legislation in 2010 that

became law in 2013 (P.A. 96-1144), which requires every newspaper to post all public notices on a centralized, statewide website

at no additional cost to government. That website, PublicNoticeIllinois.com, is the sole online location for every public notice

published in the state of Illinois. Allowing the government agencies to post public notices on its own website means that this

information would no longer be available on PublicNoticeIllinois.com, thereby going against the General Assembly’s intent of

having all notice information located in one searchable online database. With this statute, the print product of the newspapers still

remains the ocial public notice, but also creates a clearing house for all public notices in the state.

Best Practices and Resource Guide

FAQs

WHO DETERMINES WHAT NOTICE MUST BE GIVEN?

The Illinois Compiled Statutes have set the standards for public notice by governmental entities, and the courts have set standards for

notice to individuals who need to be warned of actions about to be taken against them. Since roughly 7,000 governmental entities

exist, logic dictates that basic references to public notice should be collected within a single source, the Illinois Compiled Statutes, and

determined by a single body, the state Legislature.

Public notice has been an integral part of the Illinois Compiled Statutes since statehood because it serves several purposes:

• Public notice requires the governmental entity to tell when hearings are to be held, how money is being spent, what laws are being

passed, what property is being sold, etc.

• Public notice provides a permanent record of actions that are taken and a legally defensible notication of actions about to be taken.

• Public notice is the ONLY way that exact wording can be provided by the entity’s counsel.

Resources – FAQs

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Resources – FAQs

WHY ARE NEWSPAPERS USED?

The General Assembly has also set standards for the communication of public notices. To ensure that every citizen has an equal

opportunity to access public notice, legislators chose newspapers. Newspapers have two attributes which contributed to this decision:

Verbatim text, the legal language necessary to provide total public notice, can be spread most easily among members of the public by a

compact written notice which can be studied at length, preserved in a home or oce, and collected for future reference in a repository

outside the jurisdiction of the local government, a newspaper’s archives.

Selection of a source for publication outside the government provides a second-party witness to the fact that the public has been

informed of this important information.

HOW ARE LEGAL NOTICES BILLED?

Assessments (35 ILCS 200/12-15)

The price for publishing assessments is now set statewide (not including Cook County) at a at rate of 80 cents per-parcel. The per-

parcel price schedule (ranging from 80 cents to $2 per-parcel) has been eliminated. In Cook County, any newspaper publishing an

assessment list is entitled to a fee of 40 cents per column line for publishing such lists.

Delinquent Tax Lists (35 ILCS 200/21-117)

The cost for advertising delinquent lists, in all counties, for tracts of land, is 40 cents per column line. For town lots, in counties of the

rst and second class, it is 40 cents per column line and in counties of the third class, it is 50 cents per column line, to be taxed and

collected as costs. Most counties will be 40 cents per column line. It is also 40 cents per column line for the preamble, descriptive

readings, the adavit and any other matter accompanying the delinquent list.

All Other Notices (715 ILCS 15/1)

The maximum rate charged for each insertion of a required public notice shall not exceed the lowest classied rate paid by commercial

users for comparable space in the newspapers in which the required public notice appears and shall include all cash discounts, multiple

insertion discounts, and similar benets extended to the newspaper’s regular customers.

Best Practices and Resource Guide

What to charge?

HOW TO CHARGE FOR LEGAL NOTICES

For required public notices, Illinois sets the amount to be charged for assessments and delinquent tax lists; however, it does not set

the maximum rate for all other required public notices. For these other public notices, the Legal Advertising Rate Act (715 ILCS 15/1)

states that the minimum is 20 cents per column line for each insertion and maximum is not to exceed the lowest classied rate paid by

commercial users for comparable space. This includes all cash discounts, multiple insertion discounts, and similar benets extended to

the newspaper’s regular customers.

“Commercial users” means a customer submitting commercial advertising and does not include a customer submitting a required public notice.

HOW TO DETERMINE TYPE FACE SIZE

The face of type of any required public notice shall not be smaller than the body type used in the classied advertising in the newspaper

in which the required public notice is published. This is stated in the Legal Advertising Rate Act (715 ILCS 15/1).

Resources – FAQs

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Resources – Types

GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 5 GENERAL PROVISIONS

CHAPTER 10 ELECTIONS

CHAPTER 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

CHAPTER 20 EXECUTIVE BRANCH

CHAPTER 25 LEGISLATURE

CHAPTER 30 FINANCE

CHAPTER 35 REVENUE

CHAPTER 40 PENSIONS

CHAPTER 45 INTERSTATE COMPACTS

CHAPTER 50 LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 55 COUNTIES

CHAPTER 60 TOWNSHIPS

CHAPTER 65 MUNICIPALITIES

CHAPTER 70 SPECIAL DISTRICTS

CHAPTER 75 LIBRARIES

REGULATION

CHAPTER 205 FINANCIAL REGULATION

CHAPTER 210 HEALTH FACILITIES AND REGULATION

CHAPTER 215 INSURANCE

CHAPTER 220 UTILITIES

CHAPTER 225 PROFESSIONS, OCCUPATIONS, AND BUSINESS

OPERATIONS

CHAPTER 230 GAMING

CHAPTER 235 LIQUOR

CHAPTER 240 WAREHOUSES

EDUCATION

CHAPTER 105 SCHOOLS

CHAPTER 110 HIGHER EDUCATION

CHAPTER 115 EDUCATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS

HUMAN NEEDS

CHAPTER 305 PUBLIC AID

CHAPTER 310 HOUSING

CHAPTER 315 URBAN PROBLEMS

CHAPTER 320 AGING

CHAPTER 325 CHILDREN

CHAPTER 330 VETERANS AND SERVICE MEMBERS

HEALTH AND SAFETY

CHAPTER 405 MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

CHAPTER 410 PUBLIC HEALTH

CHAPTER 415 ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

CHAPTER 420 NUCLEAR SAFETY

CHAPTER 425 FIRE SAFETY

CHAPTER 430 PUBLIC SAFETY

AGRICULTURE AND CONSERVATION

CHAPTER 505 AGRICULTURE

CHAPTER 510 ANIMALS

CHAPTER 515 FISH

CHAPTER 520 WILDLIFE

CHAPTER 525 CONSERVATION

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Illinois Compiled

Statutes

Best Practices and Resource Guide

TRANSPORTATION

CHAPTER 605 ROADS AND BRIDGES

CHAPTER 610 RAILROADS

CHAPTER 615 WATERWAYS

CHAPTER 620 AIR TRANSPORTATION

CHAPTER 625 VEHICLES

CHAPTER 630 GENERAL TRANSPORTATION

RIGHTS AND REMEDIES

CHAPTER 705 COURTS

CHAPTER 710 ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

CHAPTER 715 NOTICES

CHAPTER 720 CRIMINAL OFFENSES

CHAPTER 725 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 730 CORRECTIONS

CHAPTER 735 CIVIL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 740 CIVIL LIABILITIES

CHAPTER 745 CIVIL IMMUNITIES

CHAPTER 750 FAMILIES

CHAPTER 755 ESTATES

CHAPTER 760 TRUSTS AND FIDUCIARIES

CHAPTER 765 PROPERTY

CHAPTER 770 LIENS

CHAPTER 775 HUMAN RIGHTS

BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT

CHAPTER 805 BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

CHAPTER 810 COMMERCIAL CODE

CHAPTER 815 BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

CHAPTER 820 EMPLOYMENT

Resources – Types

Best Practices and Resource Guide

Resources – Types

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

WHAT

Elections

Budget/Fiscal

Financial

General

Public Funds

Receiver

Petitions, ordinances,

Resolutions

Property Disposal

Real Estate Sale

Primary

Candidates

School

Consolidated

State Procurement

Judicial Sale

List of Judges

Surplus Property

Notice

Polling Places

ENTITY

County

County, Muni, etc.

Bank

County

State

Bank

County

School

County

State

Bank

County

State

Bank

County

CITATION

10 ILCS 5/12-1

30 ILCS 15/2

205 ILCS 5/59

10 ILCS 5/28-2

30 ILCS 605/7

735 ILCS 5/12

10 ILCS 5/7-21

105 ILCS 5/10-17

10 ILCS 5/12-4

30 ILCS

500/40-20

735 ILCS 5/15

10 ILCS 5/16-10

30 ILCS 605/1.1

735 ILCS 5/21

10 ILCS 5/5-16.3

FREQUENCY

Once in two or more papers

Once, annually

Once a week for 12 consecutive weeks

Once

Once a week for 3 successive weeks

Once in two or more papers

Once

Once in two or more papers

Three

Once a week for 3 successive weeks

Once

EXPLANATION

Notice of general election at least 30 days before general

election

Public ocer scal year statement publication, within 6

months after the expiration of the scal year

Notice of appointing a receiver, upon ling of complaint

for dissolution

Petitions, resolutions, ordinances, back door referenda at

least 122 days and no more than 152 days prior to the vote

Disposition of transferable property sold to highest bidder,

at least seven days prior to sale

Notice of sale of real estate, three weeks before sale

Specimen ballots of each political party for primary ballots

at least 5 days prior to the general primary

Annual Statement of Aairs

Notice of consolidated and nonpartisan election not more

than 30 days or less than 10 days prior to the election

Notice of the request for information for availed real

property to lease in community where space is sought

Judicial Sale, rst notice not more than 45 days prior to the

sale; the last notice not less than 7 days prior to the sale

List of all nominations of judges of elections prior to the

day of the any election

Surplus real property held by the state, not less than 15

nor more than 30 days prior to sale

Notice by publication, upon application

Precinct registration notice includes date, hours, and

places at least 20 days prior to registration

COMMON NOTICES

Best Practices and Resource Guide

WHAT

Bond Issues

Public Hearings

Other Frequent Publications

Bond Issue

Notication

Budget

Tree trimming

Capital Bonds

Budget

Adoption

Mechanics Lien

GO Bonds

Assess. Sup

Meeting

Divorce

Local Government

Debt Reform Act

Self Service

Name Change

ENTITY

County, Municipality

Municipality

Utility

State

School

Family

Business

State

County

Family

County, Municipality

Business

Individual

CITATION

30 ILCS 352/15

35 ILCS

200/23-35

220 ILCS

5/8-505.1

30 ILCS 420/6

105 ILCS 5/34

750 ILCS 50/7

770 ILCS 50/3

30 ILCS 330/11

35 ILCS

300/9-15

750 ILCS 5/410

30 ILCS 350/5

770 ILCS 95/4

735 ILCS

5/21-103

FREQUENCY

Once

Once in two or more daily newspapers;

one in Chicago and one in Springeld

Once

Once if under $2,000 and 3 weeks if

over $2,000

Once in two or more daily newspapers;

one in Chicago & one in Springeld

Once

Three successive weeks

EXPLANATION

Notice requirement for hearing for bond issuance, not less

than 7 days nor more than 30 days before hearing

Hearing on budget and appropriation ordinances, at least

30 days prior to time of hearing

Non-emergency vegetation management activities, not

less than 21 days before nor more than 90 days before

Sale of Capital Bonds by GOMB, at least 10 days prior to

opening bids

Two public hearings on budget, nal hearing on budget, 5

days and 2 days before respectively

Process for petition for adoption

Notice of sale publication information, dierent rules for

under $2,000 and over $2,000

Sale of Bonds by GOMB, at least 10 days prior to date of

opening bid

Annual meeting of supervisor of assessments, on or before

December 31

Dissolution – initiation of process

Backdoor referendum regarding issuance of bonds, must

be published before ling petitions

Enforcement of lien, sale or other disposition notice

Notice of name change

Resources – Types

Best Practices and Resource Guide

References

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Aug. 15, 2017). Share of households subscribing to broadband internet service. Minneapolis,

MN: fedgazette. Retrieved from: https://minneapolisfed.org/publications/fedgazette/share-of-households-subscribing-to-

broadband-internet-service

Illinois Press Association (2018). DIGITAL BLACKOUT: Local government websites keep public in the dark. Elmhurst, IL: Citizen Advocacy

Center.

Illinois Press Association (2017). 2017 Membership Directory. Springeld, IL: Illinois Press Association

Illinois Press Association (2011). You said it, Illinois! Norman, OK: Newton Research.

National Newspaper Association (2018). 2018 Community Newspaper Readership Survey. Harrisburg, PA: Susquehanna Polling and

Research.

National Newspaper Association (2017). 2017 Community Newspaper Readership Survey. Harrisburg, PA: Susquehanna Polling and

Research.

Nielsen Scarborough (December 15, 2016). Newspapers Deliver Across the Ages. Retrieved from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/

insights/news/2016/newspapers-deliver-across-the-ages.html

SimilarWeb (2018). [Website trac statistics & market intelligence Aug. 3, 2018]. Data from chicagotribune.com, illinois.gov,

CookCountyIL.gov, cityofchicago.org. Retrieved from https://www.similarweb.com/website/chicagotribune.com, https://www.

similarweb.com/website/cookcountyil.gov#overview, https://www.similarweb.com/website/cityofchicago.org

U.S. Census Bureau (September 11, 2017). Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2015. Retrieved from: https://www.census.

gov/programs-surveys/acs/library/publications-and-working-papers/reports.2017.html