There has been some confusion during the past several years about the requirements for businesses, city and county government, school districts, and individuals providing public notice to citizens in their local newspaper.
The law in Texas does require public information notices to be printed in a timely manner in the newspaper of record in your county. We are very proud to be able to continue being the newspaper of record for this county. To maintain this status, we are required by law to not only offer print notices at our lowest rate but also mail our newspaper using the United States Postal Service (USPS) no less than 50 times per year. We must also make the notices available online.
Sometimes a business or organization chooses to spend more than the minimum to make the information larger or sectioned off, so the public has an even better opportunity to notice the information. Examples of these are notices coming from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), utility companies, public auctions, election notices, budgets and salary notices, etc.
In each issue of the paper, you can find current notices. Notices are also available on our news website easttexasnews.com and the state press association website texaspublicnotices.com. Both sites offer a search option and archived notices from every newspaper in the state that is following Texas law.
The kind of agencies/notices required to be printed in the local newspaper of record includes schools and universities, city and county offices, attorneys probating a will, new businesses, liquor licenses, hazardous material notices, all public transportation including airports and railroads, public utilities, bid opportunities for contractors for government jobs, building plans for cities or change of any land use, notice of budgets, financial reports, elections, government salaries, estate sales through the courts, storage unit abandon sales, lien sales, bankruptcy, some criminal proceedings, adoptions, state environmental quality, police and fire departments, cities and municipalities, fictitious name changes, and property reports.
If you are unsure about your requirements for placing a public notice, go to https://www.texaspress.com/legal-notices.
Our newspaper upgraded its public notice system a few years ago, providing placement 24 hours a day, seven days a week on our website. It is user friendly, provides easy payment options, and immediate access to affidavits and archives. Please go to easttexasnews.com and click the legal notice tab. You will see the option to view or place notices in the four newspapers within our company. They include Polk County, San Jacinto County, Trinity County, and Tyler County.
Soon, we will also be offering standard templates for logos, adding color, etc., in sizes ranging from one eighth of a page up to a full page.
Your organization should receive a packet of information in the mail from us soon with public notice rules, placement instructions, and new size/color options. All display ads and color options will be available at a discounted rate.
If you agree that your local newspaper and/or its website is a good place for all public notices to be viewed in one convenient location, please let your Texas legislators know how much you value this service. A change in the law could result in less transparency which can hinder your right to know what is going on in your community. Their contact information is available in every issue of the newspaper on this page.
We are committed to working hard to stay in business so our community can continue to have a good local newspaper. We appreciate our partnerships with you, the readers, and all the entities providing transparency to you using public notice.
