A letter from the desk of Bill Cotter, PNA president and CEO

Last week, PNA officially celebrated its 100^th anniversary as an association.

The first six weeks of 2025 have been very exciting at PNA, especially in our membership and legislative divisions. We logged 10 member visits across Pennsylvania as positive public notice legislation appeared to be shaping up in the state House. 

Keeping the lines of communication open and engaging with all members remains vital to our mission. Connecting in person lets our team learn about new projects and initiatives along with any challenges our members may be facing. It also gives us the opportunity to share PNA and industry updates.

During January and February, members of the PNA Executive Team met with the leaders from the following organizations:

1. Gettysburg Times
2. The Daily Item (Sunbury)
3. Butler Eagle
4. Pittsburgh City Paper
5. Trib Total Media
6. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
7. Broad + Liberty
8. The Philadelphia Inquirer
9. The Philadelphia Tribune
10. PA Media Group

We also continue to add to our PNA family; six provisional members have signed up over the past three months. 

In the 2023-2024 General Assembly session, our PNA legislative and legal teams began work on a public notice bill to modernize current law.

That effort has been informed by input over a period of years from legislators, local government officials, PNA members and the public. 

The anticipated legislation would require a public notice to be published in a print newspaper of general circulation, in the digital replica of the newspaper, on the newspaper website in front of the paywall, and on the PNA-operated statewide public notice website, publicnoticepa.com. Where no print newspaper exists, a notice would meet state requirements if published in a digital newspaper of general circulation. If neither exists, the notice could be published in a free newspaper.

Rep. Robert Freeman

The effort to update the law is supported by both the PNA Public Notice Task Force and the PNA Board of Directors.

Championing the bill is its sponsor, Rep. Robert Freeman. The Northampton County Democrat is chairman of the House Local Government Committee, which has historically considered public notice legislation.

On Feb. 4, Rep. Freeman began circulating a memo seeking co-sponsors for the legislation.

PNA Director of Government Affairs Jan Murphy, legislative consultant Barb Hough Huesken and members of our outside government affairs firm, Novak Strategic Advisors, have been meeting individually with Democratic and Republican legislators to advocate for the anticipated legislation. Feedback so far has been encouraging.

Plans are also underway to welcome the PNA Board of Directors along with the PNA Foundation Trustees to Harrisburg for meetings on Feb. 24 and 25.

I feel very honored and blessed to lead this esteemed organization. With the help of my incredible team, we are here to assist and support our members across the commonwealth.

Sincerely,

Bill Cotter

President & CEO

Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association