A Year in Review for Local News Legislation

Momentum continued to build for our movement in 2025. State legislatures considered a variety of proposals to rebuild local news:

• • Refundable tax credits and grants for local newsrooms that retain and hire local journalists
  • Requirements for government agencies to place more advertising with community newsrooms
  • Consumer subsidies to help residents support the news outlets they rely on
  • Tax credits for small businesses that advertise in local news outlets

Some states considered proposals to make Big Tech companies foot the bill for the programs.

State Investments in Local News

California added $15 million for its existing California Local News Fellowship at UC Berkeley, which will support a new two year cohort of approximately 40 fellows, each placed in a California newsroom with full salary and benefits. In addition, up to 10 editors will be hired for one year . The state has also allocated its half of the matching funds with Google for a new $20 million Civic Media Fund, while state agencies created plans under AB 1511 to boost their planned advertising spending for community and ethnic media.

Illinois has begun sending checks to newsrooms through its five year, $25 million refundable journalist employment tax credit program. The majority of funding has gone to newsrooms outside Chicago, with roughly one third  awarded to nonprofit outlets.

New Mexico boosted funding for its existing local journalist fellowship program, with $350,000 to the University of Mexico for an expanded local journalist fellowship and internship program, as well as a high school journalism program. The state funding will allow the program to place an additional five reporters and six interns.

New York regulators issued proposed regulations to implement its three-year, $90 million refundable employment credit for commercial news outlets. The regulations clarified that digital-only news websites are eligible, a flaw in the original law that Rebuild Local News pushed hard to rectify. In addition, an alliance of nonprofit websites, public radio stations and public access centers are advocating to include nonprofits in the state program.

Advocates in New Jersey successfully fended off the governor’s attempt to defund the Civic Information Consortium he originally created several years ago, preserving a key state initiative supporting local news.

Shifting Government Advertising Toward Community News  

Minnesota and Illinois enacted statutes requiring greater transparency in how government agencies spend advertising dollars. This will enable stakeholders to know which parts of the local news system are not being treated fairly and devise political strategies for future efforts to push the state toward more local ad spending.

Federal Challenges and Responses

Community news suffered a major federal setback as Congress and the Trump administration defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a loss of $500 million annually. In response, funders created the Public Media Bridge Fund for at-risk stations, while local station leaders in several states organized efforts to secure additional state funding to help fill the gaps. 

Meanwhile, Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss introduced the Education Not Endless Scrolling Act, which would impose a 50 percent excise tax on digital advertising revenue above $2.5 billion, with a large part of the proceeds set aside to fund local journalism programs.