Tennessee Senate Bill SB0760

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/4/25
• Chaptered: 5/27/25
• Passed: 5/27/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 1, Chapter 3, relative to legal notices.

Summary

This bill amends Tennessee law governing the publication of legal notices on websites. It adds requirements for a qualifying website used to publish legal notices, including that the site must be free to view without a fee or subscription and must be a separate website from the newspaper of general circulation, owned by an entity other than that newspaper. The bill also requires the website owner to charge publication fees on a per-word basis, with rates comparable to but not exceeding the owner’s rates for other advertisers, and to provide an affidavit on the invoice showing the number of days the notice was published online. The bill preserves existing exceptions for certain legal notices under property foreclosure law and for sample ballots. It takes effect July 1, 2025, and is intended to update the framework for how legal notices may be published electronically in Tennessee.

Impact

The bill changes Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 1, Chapter 3, by tightening the conditions under which websites may serve as venues for legal notices and by imposing pricing and documentation rules on website owners. It affects newspapers of general circulation, independent website operators, and persons or entities required to publish legal notices, while leaving foreclosure notices and sample ballots outside the new online-notice rules.

Sentiment

The available vote history suggests broad support for the measure: the Senate State & Local Government Committee recommended passage with amendments on a 9-0 vote. No committee transcript was provided, but the unanimous committee vote indicates the bill was generally viewed favorably and without recorded opposition at that stage.

Contention

The main policy issues appear to be the structure and ownership of websites that may publish legal notices, and the pricing rules for such publication. The bill requires the notice website to be separate from the newspaper and owned by a different entity, which may reflect concern about competition, transparency, or market control. The per-word rate cap tied to other advertising rates could also be a point of concern for website owners or publishers, though no specific objections are recorded in the provided materials.