MINNESOTA PUBLIC NOTICE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
1983 -- Newspaper Association sponsored legislation drafted and introduced to repeal over 300 statutes requiring publication; County legislation to weaken public notice requirements re: delinquent property taxes and financial statements introduced but not heard
1984 -- Association bill to repeal over 300 statutory publication requirements passed into law; County legislation to repeal requirement to publish itemized financial statements withdrawn by author; legislation to delete publication of assumed business names defeated
1985 -- Passage of minor amendments to the 1984 Association bill repealing public notice requirements; defeat of legislation to repeal publication of constitutional amendments; mortgage moratorium legislation amended to delete objectionable publication language
1986 -- Defeat of legislation that would have eliminated mortgage foreclosure by advertisement
1987 -- Defeated counties legislation to reduce number of delinquent property tax publications; successfully amended mortgage foreclosure publication changes
1988 -- County legislation to amend delinquent property tax publication law not acted on; city specific legislation to permit mailing instead of publishing some public notices amended by Association to permit mail option only if no nondaily newspaper circulated in city
1990 -- Amended truth in taxation law to permit publication in any official newspaper in metro area
1991 -- County legislation to eliminate publication of financial statement successfully amended by Association to eliminate publication of small disbursements, and delete third publication on tax forfeited land
1992 -- Several local government bills to remove publication of competitive bidding, delinquent property taxes and general publication law introduced but not passed
1993 -- Defeated county legislation to delete the second publication of delinquent property taxes
1994 -- Successful in passing legislation to require the state to publish names of child support obligors
1995 -- Defeated county legislation to delete the second publication of delinquent property taxes; defeated legislation to eliminate the deadbeat dads publication list; passed compromise legislation to permit cities to publish summary budget statements
1996 -- Defeated county legislation to delete the second publication of delinquent property taxes
1997 -- County legislation to eliminate second publication of county financial statements withdrawn at Association request; amended legislation to permit Roseville to designate an adjoining county newspaper as their legal newspaper under certain circumstances
1998 --Proposal to eliminate publication requirements not acted on
2000 -- Legislation to put all public notices on the internet not acted on
2001 -- Defeated legislation to eliminate newspaper publication requirement and transfer to internet in Hennepin/Ramsey counties
2002 -- Legislation to transfer publication from newspapers to the internet introduced but not heard; defeated metro city proposal to Board of Government Innovation and Cooperation to exempt them from having to publish any public notices in newspapers but instead transfer them to the internet
2003 -- Defeated legislation to permit option to publish public notices on government websites instead of in newspapers; passed Association legislation to permit public bodies to select a different newspaper than one with their primary or secondary office in the district if certain requirements are met(resulted in reduced costs for several suburbs)
2004 -- Passed Association sponsored compromise legislation to make the following changes to publication of public notices: permitted all public bodies to disseminate solicitation of bids, requests for information, and requests for proposals on the internet or through trade journals instead of in newspapers; permits small cities to publish summaries of their financial statements instead of full statement, and increases threshold to reduce publication of disbursements; increases threshold at which counties have to publish individual claims; provides that all public bodies do not have to publish proceedings until 14 days after approved instead of 30 days after meeting; permits public bodies to disseminate notices by standard or electronic mail in addition to newspapers; increases the minimum fee that counties can charge against delinquent property tax parcels to whatever the county board determines is reasonably necessary to recover all costs; requires all newspapers printing public notices to post notices on their web site at no additional cost to public bodies; enlarged the number of newspapers that could publish legal notices to increase competition, drive down costs and provide for broader dissemination, particularly in the metro area; permits public bodies to enter into multiyear publications contracts up to 3 years to increase their negotiating leverage; permits public bodies to solicit and accept joint bids for wider dissemination of notices; contains other technical changes.
2005 -- Defeated all legislation to remove public notices from newspapers; legislation to permit local governments to opt out of state mandates contained Association language providing that waiver from a procedural rule does NOT include statutory notice requirements
2006 -- Defeated legislation that would have eliminated second publication of county financial statements
2007 -- Defeated legislation that would have eliminated the publication of sample ballots in newspapers; restored publication of yearly school budgets in newspapers
2008 -- Defeated legislation to reduce number of required publications for mortgage foreclosure from 6 to 3; defeated legislation to limit publication of sample ballots
Legislation in bold is Minnesota Newspaper Association sponsored legislation that significantly amended or repealed public notice requirements on local governments.