Statewide public notice websites sponsored by the newspaper industry have been the focus of major change in the last few years. Many states enacted new laws requiring notices to be published on the sites and about two dozen state press groups have switched website vendors.

The vendor shift has been driven by the growing adoption of online ad-entry systems and the withdrawal from the market of the first vendor to license a web-based platform to power the websites.

It’s an unusual market, with both buyers and sellers hailing from the non-profit world of state press associations. The first association to develop its own statewide public notice website — the Arizona Newspapers Association (ANA) in the early aughts — was also the first to license the software as a service to other states. In late 2020, ANA announced it would stop servicing the software. That led to a scramble among its remaining customers.

The Illinois Press Association (IPA) had already eclipsed ANA as the dominant provider by the time of the announcement. IPA is still the market leader today, licensing its online software to 17 state press groups. But Column, a private supplier of public-information systems, has made major strides since it was first-to-market with a fully digital publication process in 2019. Its public notice platform now powers websites owned by 14 press associations in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

Other providers have developed online ad-entry systems since Column pioneered the trend, including the New York Press Association (its website debuted around the same time Column entered the market), Detroit Legal News Publishing and the Florida Press Service. IPA plans to introduce its own fully digital system later this year.

There are now 43 press associations operating statewide public notice websites in 44 states in the U.S. (MDDC operates a single public notice website for Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia.) You’ll find updated links to those websites below, organized by current vendors. PNRC and the Newspaper Association Managers maintain webpages aggregating the links.

It’s worth noting that Google searches of “public notice” still frequently surface mypublicnotices.com, a website operated by online obituary software provider Legacy.com. The site is no longer actively maintained, yet it still purports to power a database of current notices for 18 “statewide” websites. Unfortunately, most of these zombie sites, which can only serve to frustrate and confuse those searching for notices, compete for traffic with public notice websites owned by state press groups.

Column
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Idaho
Kansas
Maryland
Maine
New Mexico
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Texas
Wyoming

Detroit Legal News Publishing
Michigan

Florida Press Service
Louisiana

Illinois Press Association
Alabama
Georgia
Illinois
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oregon
South Carolina
Tennessee
Utah
Virginia
Washington

Newz Group
Iowa
Kentucky
North Dakota

The Star-Advertiser
Hawaii

Tecnavia
Indiana
Montana
Oklahoma
Wisconsin

Proprietary Sites
New York
West Virginia