Nebraska became the second midwestern state to update its public notice law in 2022 when Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) signed Legislative Bill 840 on April 18.

LB-840 requires newspapers to post notices on the Nebraska Press Association’s statewide website. It also raises public notice ad rates from 45 cents per line to 48 cents per line for 12 months beginning Oct. 1, 2022, and to 50 cents per line on Oct. 1, 2023. That 11 percent boost over the next 18 months is the state’s first public notice rate increase in 26 years.

Nary a bad word was said about the bill while it was being considered. It passed Nebraska’s unicameral legislature by a 47-0 margin and faced no opposition in a committee hearing two months earlier. During the hearing one senator even asked if the rate increase was large enough.

Why did it pass so easily?

“It was the right bill at the right time,” said NPA Executive Director Dennis Derossett.

According to Derossett, the association, which will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year, has always maintained excellent relations in the capitol with lawmakers and the state associations that represent government officials. He also said NPA’s member publishers tend to have strong relationships with their own senators.

“Those kinds of pre-existing relationships make it easier to have a conversation,” Derossett said.

Potential opponents of the bill also liked the proactive posture NPA’s statewide website represents. “We had solutions in place,” explained Derossett. “We weren’t perceived as just looking for a rate increase. We had our print side covered. And we had our digital side covered.”

Nebraska is the 17th state to require official newspapers to post notices that run in print on their website and/or on their state press association’s statewide website. Earlier this year, South Dakota became the 16th state to approve a web-posting law when HB-1075 sailed through both chambers with only one dissenting vote.

In Minnesota, House File 3682 passed the House in March by a vote of 116-18 and is expected to start moving through the Senate “fairly soon,” the Minnesota Newspaper Association reports in its latest newsletter. HF-3682 would relax eligibility standards for official newspapers and require them to post notices on MNA’s statewide public notice website. Minnesota law already requires papers in the state to publish notices on their own websites.