This story was originally published on Sept. 25 and was updated on Oct. 3. New material is italicized.

Last month, we reported that through the end of the summer there were no states that had approved legislation significantly altering their public notice laws. We were wrong.

Unbeknownst to most in the newspaper business, two months earlier Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had signed into law measures buried within the legislature’s 6,198-page budget bill that will bring sweeping changes to the state’s public notice regime. DeWine signed the bill less than a week after it passed both the GOP-dominated state House and Senate by wide margins on June 30.