The committee considered an amendment to House Bill 1944 that would allow localities to post legal notices on local government websites in lieu of newspaper publication in some cases; the committee adopted the amendment that preserves the requirement to use newspapers when federal law requires publication.

Committee counsel described the amendment on the floor, instructing that on line 15 the bill be changed to add: ", except when federal law requires legal notice to be published in a newspaper." The chair then asked for a motion; the amendment was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.

Delegate Seibert presented the bill and said the town of Vienna and many small municipalities spend "tens of thousands of dollars each year advertising in newspapers" and seek flexibility to post notices on municipal websites to save taxpayer funds. Joe Lerch of the Virginia Association of Counties testified in support, saying localities should have flexibility "where it makes sense."

Amy Perrin Seibert of the Virginia Press Association testified in opposition. She described existing statutory changes made in 2019 that require print publication and make notices available on newspaper websites and in the publicnoticevirginia.com database, and she expressed concern about accessibility and independence if local governments publish their own notices. "Not everybody in the Commonwealth has online only access," Seibert said, and she warned that posting notices only on local government websites would be a "huge sea change." She asked the committee to defeat the bill.

The committee adopted the proposed amendment and did not record further roll action on the bill in the provided transcript excerpt; the bill remains before the committee for further action.