Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Honorable Michael S. Day, House Chair
The Honorable Lydia Edwards, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on the Judiciary
State House, Boston
Delivered electronically
Dear Chair Day, Chair Edwards, and Distinguished Members of the Committee,
On behalf of cities and towns across the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association would like to offer strong support for S. 1279, An Act relative to legal advertisements and public notices.
S. 1279 would allow a municipality to satisfy the publication requirements of a legal notice under Section 13 of Chapter 4 of the General Laws by publishing them in a print newspaper, a newspaper’s website, a statewide website or the city or town’s website. It would also allow a municipality to satisfy the notice requirements of a public hearing under Section 11 of Chapter 40A by posting it in a newspaper, its website or on the city or town’s website. Under current law, these postings must be done in a physical print edition of a newspaper, a costly endeavor that often fails to reach its intended target due to the closing of many local print publications.
Updating the current law to allow for online publication of legal ads and public hearing notices would provide significant cost savings, given they can cost upwards of $150 per posting, and municipalities may need to post hundreds in any given year. Allowing online publication would also ensure residents have easy and free access to them while enabling the postings to have a larger reach.
Most importantly, S. 1279 mimics the language of several recently passed home rule petitions for towns such as Lexington, Lincoln, Sharon, Franklin, Arlington, Dracut, and Bedford. The quick passage of these home rules, and the addition of similar petitions filed this session, suggests that a universal allowance as included in S. 1279 is both advisable, noncontroversial, and in the interest of all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to have your office contact me or MMA Legislative and Policy Counsel Ali DiMatteo, at [email protected], at any time. We are grateful for your support of local government in the Commonwealth and deeply appreciate your consideration of the municipal perspective on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Adam Chapdelaine
MMA Executive Director and CEO