6 events in Passaic County with a date

Murphy must uphold transparency of public notices

 

 

..... Another session of the New Jersey Legislature will close with another attack on transparency in the Garden State.
..... Governor Phil Murphy's has already presided over a fatal assault on the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, a national gold standard for public access to public data, and has already singed the equally egregious Election Transparency Act, which torched equally strong campaign finance standards. Now, Murphy is about to kill decades-old practices about the publishing of public notices, or legal advertisements, in New Jersey.
..... Governor, think hard about that legacy as you negotiate final details of the state budget package we expect the Legislature to pass and you to sign June 30. [2025]

Scutari and Sarlo lead a constant assault on transparency

..... Over the last six months, the fate of Garden State public notices - the advertisements carried in daily and weekly newspapers and on their digital platforms that advertise public meetings, contracts and more - has been up in the air.
..... What are public notices?
..... Public notices - advertised by public and private entities alike - advertise requests for proposals for contractual bids, real estate sales and closures, planning board meetings, contracts, zoning changes, and on and on.
..... Public notices are the backbone of public transparency in New Jersey. The Legislature senses an opportunity to darken public transparency.
..... Why?
..... Advance, the publisher of The Star Ledger, the Jersey Journal, the Times of Trenton and the South Jersey Times, ceased publication of those print titles in February. [2025] In anticipation of that move, leaders in the Legislature - notably Senate Pres dent Nick Scutari and state Senator Paul Sarlo, both Democrats - sought to take another swipe at government transparency.
..... How?
..... By eliminating requirements that government - at every level, municipal county and state - advertise meetings, public hearings, contracts and more using public notices in New Jersey newspapers.
..... Last December, [2024] as news of Advance's decision to cease publication of its printed dailies broke, Sarlo and Scutari introduced legislation that would allow government entities at every level to begin self-publishing public notices.
..... That legislation ultimately delivered a stopgap compromise, compelling public entities that had placed public notices in print newspapers to mover to Online publications.
..... We believe that compromise - due to expire June 30 [2025] - is still the right way forward -despite a bill that is destined for Governor Phil Murphy's signature that would end it.
..... Scutari, the Senate president, last week [06/26/2025] introduced new legislation that would allow governments and other public entities to self-publish public notices Online.
..... Individuals, corporations and non-public entities are still required, in Scutari's bill, to publish public notices on Online news site.
..... The justification?
..... Like the legislation hat gutted the New Jersey Open Public Records Act and the Election Transparency Act in 2023, the justification coming from Scutari and Sarlo is based on cost: they contend that the burden of publishing through news organizations - which cost government money given that news publications are private businesses - is too costly. Just as they justified the horrid mauling OPRA, Scutari and Sarlo have pointed to the burden pubic notices put on public budgets.
..... But that's a ruse - prices to advertise public notices have not appreciably risen in 40 years and, in reality, the dollars spent to publish them account for less than 1% of government budgets.

Municipal workers do not trump transparency in New Jersey - unless you're a Democrat in Trenton

..... In our view, the cost of transparency is never too high.
..... The fact that public notices - OPRA requests - put alleged burdens on municipal workers does not mean they are not justified.
..... Consider this: The reach of USA today Network New Jersey - encompassing news organizations that include NorthJersey.com and The Record, the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-Post, News Tribune, the New Jersey Herald News Tribune, the New Jersey Herald and the Vineland Daily Journal - exceeds 9.5 million unique visitors sand subscribers across digital and print platforms each month.
..... How many people live in New Jersey? 9.5 million.
..... We can't account for how many readers our colleagues who publish other daily New Jersey outlets reach. But we can guarantee that they reach million more, too.
..... It's safe to assume that local, county, school district and state government websites cannot command that kind of exposure.
..... do we really believe that our readers, who read public notices in our print and digital editions, will be happy, for instance, to trade a copy of The Record or a gander at NorthJersey.com for scouring of 70 municipal websites and 77 school district websites - just in Bergen County? Or tat readers of the Asbury Park Press would read their daily print editions or time spent on app.com for the 53 municipal and 56 school district websites in Monmouth County?
..... Of course they won't. Why would they?
..... New Jersey's democracy, on Murphy watch, will likely take another direct hit.

If you care about transparency, these are the culprits of tis demise in New Jersey

.... Once again, Scutari and Sarlo are the authors of laughable legislation that endangers public will and the public trust.
..... Governor Murphy, we know you know that.
..... We also know that your pen is likely to land on this odious legislation in the ongoing negotiation for the sate budget.
..... For the sake of Fiscal responsibility - in a truly minor scale considering the $58.1 billion proposed state budget - we will forfeit another beacon of government.
..... Signing this bill will be the third major swipe at government transparency on your watch.
..... That's a sad prospect for your legacy.
..... Moving public notices out of print and digital editions of news products to public websites is another bad step that will leave New Jersey in even greater darkness when it comes to government transparency.
..... Governor, veto this assault on transparency.

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