Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §3013 is enacted to read:

§3013.__Publication policy

Notwithstanding Title 1, section 601, municipal legal notices may be published in a newspaper medium distributed as 3rd-class postal matter in the United States mails rather than in a newspaper of general circulation if the municipal officers have adopted a publication policy regarding legal notices that contains the following requirements:

1.__General circulation.__The newspaper of general circulation must have a subscription rate of less than 30% of the residents of the municipality.__The subscription rate is calculated by dividing the total number of weekday subscriptions by the total number of households in the municipality as reported by the United States Census Bureau;

2.__Distribution.__The alternative newspaper medium must be distributed to all households in the municipality;

3.__Cost.__The alternative newspaper medium is distributed at no greater cost to the consumer than the newspaper of general circulation;

4.__Municipal record.__The municipality retains a record of all legal notices, legal advertising and other legal matter published pursuant to this section; and

5.__Archives.__The publisher of the alternative newspaper medium has a system of archiving past editions of the newspaper.

SUMMARY

This bill allows municipalities to publish legal notices in a newspaper medium distributed as 3rd-class mail if the municipal officers adopt a publication policy. The policy must contain 5 requirements. The newspaper of general circulation must have a subscription rate of less than 30% of the residents in the municipality, all households in the municipality must receive the alternative newspaper, the alternative newspaper must cost less than the newspaper of general circulation, the municipality must retain a record of all notices published in the alternative newspaper and the publisher of the alternative newspaper must have a system of archiving past editions.