Legislative Update: New Public Notice Legislation Signed into Law

In addition to learning more details about Gov. Phil Murphy’s fiscal year 2026 proposed budget, several education-related bills moved through the Legislature in the past week.

New Law

Temporary Relief for Posting Public Notices S-4136/A-5343 (P.L.2025, c.22) was signed into law on Friday, Feb. 28 after being passed by the full Legislature over the last week. The law extends the provisions of a previous law (S-3957/A-5151, P.L.2024, c.106) concerning public notice requirements, which was signed in December 2024.

That law provided that a newspaper eligible to be used by a public body in 2024 for the purpose of complying with the Open Public Meetings Act or other public notice or legal advertisement requirement, including for providing adequate notice of a meeting, and being designated as an official newspaper, is deemed eligible for the same purposes from Jan. 1, 2025, to March 1, 2025, regardless of the physical or digital format for the newspaper’s publication.

This newly signed law extends the expiration of that law to June 30, 2025. The law also requires a newspaper or online news publication that provides public notice or legal advertising services to a public body for the purposes of the public body complying with public notice and legal advertisement requirements to submit certain subscription data to the governor and the Office of Public Information in the Office of Legislative Services for distribution to the membership of the Legislative Services Commission.

In committee testimony, the New Jersey School Boards Association expressed support for the bill and recommended that, as it considers a long-term solution, the Legislature consider allowing boards of education and other local governing bodies to post public notices on their own government websites.

Senate Labor Committee

The Senate Labor Committee met Monday, March 3, and approved the following bill relevant to boards of education:

Job Posting Requirements S-3509 would require an employer to remove a job posting when a position has been filled and include, within any posting for a publicly advertised job, information concerning whether the posting is for an existing position. An employer would also be required to provide a timeframe in the job posting as to when the position is anticipated to be filled. If the employer interviews an applicant for the position, the employer would be required, within the timeframe provided in the job advertisement, to provide the applicant with an affirmative response as to whether the position has been filled, or if the position has not been filled, whether the employer is still considering the applicant for the position.

The bill would also require third-party job posting companies to remove positions that have been filled, and it provides the Department of Labor and Workforce Development with the authority to audit employers and third-party job posting companies for ongoing violations. Any person who violates the provisions of the bill will be subject to civil penalties of between $300 and $600 for as long as a posting remains in violation.

In committee testimony, the NJSBA expressed concerns about the applicability of the bill to public employers in addition to private employers. The Association referenced the current teacher shortage and the unlikelihood of ghost postings for education-related job listings. 

S-3509 now heads to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for further consideration. The bill’s Assembly counterpart, A-4625, was approved by the Assembly Labor Committee in September. That measure awaits consideration by the Assembly State and Local Government Committee. Those bills are not identical in their current forms, so any differences would have to be reconciled before final passage.

Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee

The Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee met Monday, March 3, and approved the following bill relevant to boards of education:

Excused Absences for Military Enlistment Activities S-3902 would permit excused absences for students participating in college visits, visits to post-secondary technical institutions and military recruitment activities. The bill would provide students in grades 11 or 12 with a cumulative total of three excused absences per school year for the purpose of college visits or visits to postsecondary technical institutions. The bill would also allow a student enrolled in grade 11 or 12 who enlists or plans to enlist in military service and who is absent from school to complete a military recruitment-related activity to receive a state-excused absence for that purpose. The absence would not be included on a student’s transcript, application, employment form or any similar form requested. The absence would also not be considered when determining if a student has a perfect attendance record for the school year. Under the bill, a military recruitment-related activity means any activity required by the Armed Forces of the United States to be eligible to enlist including, but not limited to, any testing, medical or physical evaluations, interviews and fingerprinting. The bill would take effect in the first full school year following the date of enactment.

The NJSBA supports the bill and provided verbal and written testimony highlighting the adoption of a new Association policy at the December 2024 Delegate Assembly. That policy states the following: “The NJSBA believes the New Jersey Department of Education student attendance regulations should include a limited number of state-excused absences per school year for students who seek to participate in activities related to military enlistment that require absence from classroom instruction.”

To view the full text of any of the bills summarized above, please visit the New Jersey Legislature’s website.