This document summarizes the requirements of NJ law A3908 regarding content that must be provided on government websites. It discusses the types of organizations the law applies to, compliance deadlines, and required content including mission/responsibilities, budgets, audits, rules/policies, meeting notices/agendas, minutes, contact info, and a list of those paid over $17,500. It also provides guidance on information architecture, accessible web formats like PDF and HTML, search functionality, and handling signatures digitally. Government agencies must comply with the transparency requirements by posting this information online by certain deadlines.
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NJ Web Content Requirements
1. NJ Web Content Requirements
A3908 Mandates
Carol A Spencer October 11, 2012
Digital & Social Media Manager Morris County Office of Public Information
3. Applicability
Soil Conservation Districts
Workforce Investment Boards
County Park Commissions
Joint Insurance Funds
Fire Districts
Regional Health Commissions
Authorities
Subject to the provisions of chapter 5A of NJSA Title 40A
Municipal Zone Development Corporations
4. Applicability
Any “environmental authority, board or
commission […] owning real property assets or
providing services in more than one county,
including but not limited to, those subject to
oversight pursuant to the “Local Authorities Fiscal
Control Law” or appointed pursuant to R.S. 40: 62-
109 regarding joint water commissions.”
This includes any “authority, board, commission, or other
public body authorized by law to provide water, sewer, or
other utility service, or to engage in the zoning of facilities
for, or the planning for, the provision of such services.
5. Morris County Applicability
Morris County Soil Conservation District
Workforce Investment Board
Morris County Park Commission
Authorities
Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA)
Improvement Authority
Morris County Housing Authority
Planning Board
6. Compliance Deadlines
Act was signed January 5, 2012
Requires each entity to post certain
information on its website
Sets two deadlines
Effective date of the Act: Feb 1, 2013
Fiscal year following Feb 1, 2013
July 1 – June 30 fiscal year: 7/1/2013
Jan 1 – December 31 fiscal year: 1/1/2014
Increasing content requirements over time
7. Content Requirements
Mission and Responsibilities
Budgets
CAFR: Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
Audits
Rules, regulations and official policy statements
deemed relevant to the interests of county
residents
Meeting Notices & Agendas
Board & Committee minutes, including resolutions
Contact information
List of those paid $17,500 or more
9. Financials: Budgets, Audits
Location: a “Financial” subsection
of “About Us”
Due: February 1, 2013
Initial requirement for budgets / CAFR / audits
is current adopted and prior year
For next fiscal year, 3 consecutive years
budgets / CAFR / audits are required
Requirement for CAFR “or other similar
financial information”
Contact your financial people for an opinion
about content needed to meet this requirement
11. Rules, Regulations, Policies
Location: “About Us” section unless this is
a significant amount of information
Due: February 1, 2013
Rules, regulations and official policy
statements deemed relevant by the Board
to the interests of affected residents
This can’t be “nothing”…
Examples: application, use, eligibility policies
13. Meeting Notices / Agendas
Location: “About Us” or “Public Meetings”
section
Due: February 1, 2013
Decide if you want to keep agendas live
after minutes are adopted.
No requirement to keep past agendas
Disk storage space issue
Notice requirement is time, date, location
and agenda
Ask your legal counsel about actual notice
15. Minutes
Location: “About Us” or “Public Meetings” section
Due: February 1, 2013
Initial requirement is current fiscal year
For next fiscal year, 3 consecutive years
Minutes from official board meetings
Minutes from board committee meetings
If Board meeting minutes include committee
minutes, the webpage should so indicate
Minutes must include verbiage of any adopted
resolutions
17. Contact Information
Location: “Contact Us”
Contact Us typically includes physical address and GPS,
mailing address, general email, phone, fax, standard
hours of operation
Should also include a feedback form
Could include links to staff list and directions
Location: “Staff”
Name, mail & email address, phone number of every
person “with day to day supervision or management over
some or all of the operations”
Due: February 1, 2013
20. The $17.5 List
Location: a “Financial” subsection of
“About Us”
List of “attorneys, advisors, consultants, and
any other person, firm, business, partnership,
corporation, or other organization which
received any remuneration of $17,500 or more
during the preceding fiscal year for any service
whatsoever rendered” to the agency
Due: February 1, 2013
21. Information Architecture
Web Standards Public Expectation
About Us
Consistent placement Who you are
of information What you do
Makes information Goals & Objectives
easy to find Contact Us
How do I reach you
Enhanced user Phone, Email, Auto,
experience Public Transportation,
Mail, Packages
“Don’t Make Me Think” Public Meetings
When, where
Transparency Discussion items
What happened
Cost-effective design
My input
22. Web Content Formats
Web documents must be
handicapped accessible
Do not use:
MS Word documents (doc/docx)
Scanned documents
Image format documents
(jpg, tif, png)
Use these: PDFs created
from other originals, or HTML
Create a PDF using the full
version of Adobe Acrobat or
an equivalent program.
23. About Accessibility
Federal government mandates
Section 508 compliant handicapped
accessibility on all its websites.
USDOJ is considering a similar mandate
for state and local government websites.
Section 508 requires text alternatives to all graphics.
Scanned PDFs are typically images and are thus
not handicapped
accessible.
25. Handling Signatures
Documents on the web are not official copies
Signatures can be replaced in several ways
(Original Signed)
/s/ name
Create a graphic of the signature. Add to original prior to
creating PDF. (not highly recommended)
Replace signature in original; then create PDF
Secure PDF prior to publishing
if adding a graphic signature
26. Search
20% to 25% of web visitors use search to
find the page or document they want
Once they reach the document, they again use
search to save time
For long documents, search
capability is a must. Minutes, audits,
bill lists are very long documents.
Images are not searchable, documents scanned
to an image format are not searchable
Image formatted documents frustrate visitors
and defeat the purpose of transparency
27. In Summary
A3908 takes effect February 1, 2013
Specific information is required on your websites
If Morris County OPI maintains your website:
Provide this information before December 1
Provide it in PDF format that is searchable, accessible
We will create PDFs if you provide us the original
If Morris County OPI does not maintain your site:
Remember Information Architecture principles
Comply with Section 508 Accessibility guidelines
Use the checklist or email us if you have questions