AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 20, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

95

CHAPTER 113

Statutes of 2026

[ Approved by Governor August 20, 2026. Filed with Secretary of State August 20, 2026. ]

Introduced by Assembly Member McKinnor

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Dixon)

February 19, 2026

An act to add Section 6009 to the Government Code, relating to public notice.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: no   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law requires various types of notices to be provided in a “newspaper of general circulation,” as that term is defined, in accordance with certain prescribed publication periods and legal requirements. Existing law requires a newspaper of general circulation to meet certain criteria, including publication, a bona fide subscription list of paying subscribers, and printing and publishing at regular intervals in the state, county, or city where publication is to be given.

This bill would require any public notice that is legally required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation to be published in the newspaper’s print publication and on the newspaper’s internet website or electronic newspaper available on the internet.

This bill would prohibit a newspaper from charging a fee or surcharge to access public notices on their internet website or for posting a legally required public notice, as specified. This bill would provide, however, that a newspaper may continue to charge a fee or surcharge for access to other content on their internet website. This bill would also provide that certain errors in the publication of a legal notice on a newspaper’s internet website, as described, would not constitute a defect in the publication of the legal notice.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 6009 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 6008, to read:

6009.

(a) When any public notice is legally required by a statute, ordinance, bylaw, or judicial order to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, that notice shall be published in and on both of the following:

(1) The newspaper’s print publication.

(2) The newspaper’s internet website or electronic newspaper available on the internet.

(b) (1) A newspaper shall not charge a fee or surcharge specifically to access public notices on their internet website. However, a newspaper may continue to charge a fee or surcharge for access to other content on their internet website.

(2) A newspaper shall not charge an additional fee or surcharge specifically for posting a public notice described in subdivision (a) to the newspaper’s internet website.

(c) An error in the legal notice published on a newspaper’s internet website that is a result of either (1) an error of the internet website operator or (2) a temporary internet website outage or service interruption that prevents the publication or display of a legal notice on the internet website shall not constitute a defect in publication of the legal notice if the legal notice appears correctly in the newspaper’s print publication and satisfies all other legal notice requirements.