                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

NEWSPAPERS THAT MAY BE USED FOR LEGAL NOTICES AND PUBLICATIONS (§ 8.01-324)

A. As used in this section and throughout the Code, the terms &#8220;newspaper
of record&#8221; and &#8220;newspaper of general circulation&#8221; are
interchangeable and identical in meaning.

B. Whenever any ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement is required by
law, regulation, or judicial order to be published in a newspaper, newspaper of
record, or newspaper of general circulation, such newspaper, newspaper of
record, or newspaper of general circulation, in addition to any qualifications
otherwise required by law, shall:

   1. Have a bona fide list of paying subscribers;

   2. Have been published and circulated in printed form at least once a week for
   at least 50 of the preceding 52 weeks;

   3. Provide general news coverage of the area in which the notice is required
   to be published;

   4. Be printed in the English language; and

   5. Have a periodicals mailing permit issued by the United States Postal
   Service (USPS). If the newspaper has such a mailing permit, it must publish
   the USPS Statement of Ownership (Form 3526) in such newspaper at least once
   per calendar year and maintain a copy of such form that is available for
   public inspection during regular business hours.

C. However, a newspaper that does not have a periodicals mailing permit issued
by the USPS pursuant to subdivision B 5 may petition the circuit court for the
jurisdiction in which ordinances, resolutions, notices, or advertisements are
required to be published to be certified as a newspaper of record for that
jurisdiction. Prior to filing the petition, the newspaper shall publish a notice
of intention to file a petition pursuant to this subsection in another newspaper
of record in the jurisdiction in which the petition will be filed. If no such
newspaper exists, such notice of intent may be published in a newspaper in a
neighboring jurisdiction. The court shall grant the authority for a period of
one year upon finding that the newspaper (i) meets the requirements of
subdivisions B 2, 3, and 4; (ii) employs a local news staff, reports local
current events and governmental meetings, has an editorial page, accepts letters
to the editor, and is, in general, a news forum for the jurisdiction in which
authority is sought; and (iii) has an audit of printed circulation for a time
period ending no more than 24 months prior to the filing of such petition
certified by an independent auditing firm or a business recognized in the
newspaper industry as a circulation auditor. Such audit shall provide a
breakdown of such newspaper&#8217;s circulation by zip code or jurisdiction. The
authority shall be continued for successive one-year periods upon the filing of
a copy of such newspaper&#8217;s most recent audit of circulation, completed
within the prior 36 months, and an affidavit certifying that the newspaper
continues to meet the requirements of this subsection.

D. If a county with a population of less than 15,000 had regularly advertised
its ordinances, resolutions, and notices in a newspaper published in the county
that had a general circulation in the county, a bona fide list of paying
subscribers, and a periodicals permit, and the newspaper continued to be
published in the county and continued to have a general circulation in the
county but failed to maintain its bona fide list of paying subscribers and its
periodicals permit, any advertisement of ordinances, resolutions, or notices in
the newspaper by the county shall be deemed to have been in compliance with this
section.

E. If a locality determines that no newspaper meets the requirements of
subsection B or C with regard to its jurisdiction, such locality may petition
the circuit court for its jurisdiction for authority to have such ordinances,
resolutions, notices, or advertisements published in another printed medium.
Such petition shall not be filed without a majority vote of approval by such
locality&#8217;s local governing body. The court shall grant such authority for
good cause shown. Such authority shall be granted for one year and may be
continued for successive one-year periods for good cause shown.

F. Any newspaper authorized by this section to publish ordinances, resolutions,
notices, or advertisements shall (i) print such ordinances, resolutions,
notices, or advertisements together under an identifying heading and such
heading shall be in boldface letters no smaller than 24-point type and (ii)
maintain at least three years&#8217; worth of print archives of such newspaper
containing any such ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement and make
such archives available to the public for inspection upon request.

G. In all cases in which an ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement is
required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, the newspaper
shall (i) post the complete notice on the newspaper&#8217;s website, if a
website is published by such newspaper, where it shall be posted
contemporaneously with the notice&#8217;s first print publication and shall
remain on the website for at least as long as the notice appears in such
newspaper; (ii) include on its website homepage a link to its public notice
section; and (iii) post the complete notice on a searchable, statewide
repository website, established and maintained as a joint venture of the
majority of Virginia newspapers as a repository for such notices, where it shall
remain on such repository website for at least as long as it appears in the
newspaper. Any notice published on a website pursuant to this section shall be
accessible to the public at no charge.

H. An error in a notice placed on a newspaper website or statewide website, or
temporary website outages or service interruptions prohibiting the posting or
display of such notice, shall be considered harmless error, and proper legal
notice requirements shall be considered met if the notice published in the
newspaper otherwise complies with the requirements for publication.

I. Whenever any ordinance, resolution, notice, or advertisement is required by
law to be published in a newspaper, such ordinance, resolution, notice, or
advertisement may be published in an online-only news publication in lieu of
publication in a newspaper. Such online-only news publication shall:

   1. Employ local news staff;

   2. Have been in business for at least two years with a Virginia State
   Corporation Commission entity registration;

   3. Have its own dedicated and registered domain name;

   4. Be published exclusively online;

   5. Publish regularly updated general news coverage of the area in which the
   notice is required to be published;

   6. Have published at least once per week for at least 50 out of the preceding
   52 weeks;

   7. Have a clear and easily found link to the public notice section on its
   website homepage;

   8. Allow, if such online-only news publication requires that users pay for
   other content on the website, any user to access public notices free of any
   charge;

   9. Allow for search engine accessibility and optimization and the ability to
   be indexed by search engines; and

   10. Post the complete notice on a searchable statewide repository website,
   established and maintained as a joint venture of the majority of newspapers in
   the Commonwealth as a repository for such notices. Such notices shall remain
   on such repository website for at least three years.

J. In order to be certified to publish ordinances, resolutions, notices, or
advertisements, an online-only news publication shall petition the circuit court
for the jurisdiction in which ordinances, resolutions, notices, or
advertisements are required to be published. Prior to filing the petition, such
online-only news publication shall publish a notice of intent to file a petition
pursuant to this subsection in a newspaper of record in the jurisdiction in
which the petition will be filed. If no such newspaper exists, such notice of
intent shall be published in a newspaper in a neighboring jurisdiction.
			Upon a finding that the online-only news publication (i) meets the
requirements of subdivisions 1 through 9 of subsection I; (ii) reports local
current events and governmental meetings and is, in general, a news forum for
the jurisdiction in which authority is sought; and (iii) has an audit of
discrete users for a time period ending no more than 12 months prior to the
filing of such petition certified by an independent firm recognized in the
online news industry as a web traffic auditor, and provided that such audit
provides a breakdown of the discrete users of such online-only news publications
by zip code or jurisdiction, the court shall grant the online-only news
publication the authority to publish such ordinances, resolutions, notices, or
advertisements for a period of one year.
			The authority to publish public notices shall be continued for successive
one-year periods upon filing with the court a copy of web analytics showing
discrete users by zip code or jurisdiction for the immediately preceding year
and an affidavit certifying that such online-only news publication continues to
meet the requirements of this subsection and subsection I. In addition, such
online-only news publication shall provide every third year an audit of web
traffic for the time period since the previous audit. Such audit shall be
certified by an independent firm recognized in the online news industry as a web
traffic auditor.

K. Ordinances, resolutions, notices, or advertisements published pursuant to
subsections I and J shall be (i) archived for up to three years, which may
include posting pursuant to subdivision 10 of subsection I; (ii) available on
the online-only news publication&#8217;s website in a searchable format
available to the public; and (iii) available as an electronic equivalent of a
tear sheet for affidavit purposes, including being notarized when required by
law, and shall be time stamped and dated to show when such ordinance,
resolution, notice, or advertisement was published.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 8-81; 1977, c. 617; 1983, c. 297; 1989, c. 611; 1992, cc.
392, 537, 719; 2007, cc. 183, 603; 2019, c. 635; 2024, cc. 277, 341.