Needham could stop publishing legal notices in print newspapers and move them entirely online under a home rule petition presented to the Select Board on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Support Services Manager Myles Tucker shared the draft petition at the board's meeting, citing $34,102 the town spent on legal notices in FY26, according to Needham Local. The proposal responds directly to the loss of local print media: the Needham Times printed its final edition in May 2022, and the Hometown Weekly later ended home delivery in town.

"At this time, for example, we have a few digital-only publications here in Needham. The town is not permitted to notice with them, so there's not exactly a market," Tucker told the board.

Under current state law, public hearing notices must run in a print newspaper of general circulation once in each of two successive weeks, with the first publication at least 14 days before the hearing. The petition would allow notices to appear instead on the town's website, a statewide repository, or a digital news site such as Needham Local or the Needham Observer.

Existing deadlines would not change.

Tax takings would still require print publication. Tucker described those as a tiny fraction of the town's overall notices, adding they could run in the Hometown Weekly, the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald.

Arlington and Lincoln have already passed similar home rule petitions. Wellesley, Westford, Stow, Shrewsbury and Newton are pursuing comparable measures.

State Sen. Becca Rausch, D-Needham, who chairs the Senate side of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, backed the shift. The legislature passed more than 50 home rule petitions last year.

State Rep. Josh Tarsky, who voted favorably on a statewide digital-notices bill in committee last July, said in an emailed statement that digital notices are faster, more accessible and better suited to how residents get information.

Select Board member Kevin Keane said a publisher he once worked for called legal notices "license to print money," but added that websites have replaced newspapers and the town needs to go where people are reading. Vice Chair Josh Levy called the effort "bringing the town into the times" and pushed for notices to also appear on the Town of Needham's own website. Tucker said he would check with town counsel on adding that language.

A separate statewide bill, House 2243, would let all 351 Massachusetts municipalities publish notices digitally. As of June 2026, the bill sat in the House Committee on Bills in the Third Reading, and its sponsor indicated it may not advance this session.

Critics of digital-only notices argue that independent newspaper publication benefits democracy. A Yale study cited in a Commonwealth Beacon opinion piece found that a 2022 Florida law allowing government-website-only notices correlated with a 16% decline in average speakers at government meetings and a 35% rise in commercial construction permits.

The board opened the Special Town Meeting warrant on Aug. 12 and has until Sept. 8 to finalize it. If the petition makes the warrant and passes at October's Special Town Meeting, it goes to the State House for the governor's signature.