HB128 Alabama 2020 Session

Under existing law, various public notices are required to be published in newspapers

This bill would require the Secretary of State to create, maintain, host, and operate a website on which public notices may be published with legal effect

This bill would require that the public notice website be available free of charge at all times and that both current and archived public notices be searchable by keyword, file number, or area, and that public notices of local legislation, both current and archived, be publicly searchable by keyword, by sponsor, by subject matter, and by county

This bill would allow the Secretary of State to require the person or entity purporting to provide the notice to pay a reasonable fee, not to exceed $50, which reflects the actual cost of publication. There would be no fee charged for any other usage of the public notice website

This bill would also provide a method by which a county commission may vote to opt that county out of the public notice website, as well as a method by which the governing body of a municipality may vote to opt its area of incorporation out of the public notice website

This bill would also provide for delivery of public notices to the Secretary of State for publishing on the public notice website

Relating to public notices; to provide for electronic publication of public notices on a public notice website operated by the Secretary of State; to provide for fees for publication; to allow counties and municipalities to opt out under certain conditions; and to provide for delivery of public notices to the Secretary of State for publication on the public notice website.