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Utah Statutes § 20A-11-1205 Use of public email for a political purpose

⤴ Up to Part 12: Political Activities of Public Entities Act

Statute Text

(1) Except as provided in Subsection (5), a person may not send an email using the email of a public entity:
(a) for a political purpose;
(b) to advocate for or against a proposed initiative, initiative, proposed referendum, referendum, a proposed bond, a bond, or any ballot proposition; or
(c) to solicit a campaign contribution.
(2)
(a) The lieutenant governor shall, after giving the person and the complainant notice and an opportunity to be heard, impose a civil fine against a person who violates Subsection (1) as follows:
(i) up to $250 for a first violation; and
(ii) except as provided in Subsection (3), for each subsequent violation committed after the lieutenant governor imposes a fine against the person for a first violation, $1,000 multiplied by the number of violations committed by the person.
(b) A person may, within 30 days after the day on which the lieutenant governor imposes a fine against the person under this Subsection (2), appeal the fine to a district court.
(3) The lieutenant governor shall consider a violation of this section as a first violation if the violation is committed more than seven years after the day on which the person last committed a violation of this section.
(4) For purposes of this section, one violation means one act of sending an email, regardless of the number of recipients of the email.
(5) A person does not violate this section if:
(a) the lieutenant governor finds that the email described in Subsection (1) was inadvertently sent by the person using the email of a public entity;
(b) the person is directly providing information solely to another person or a group of people in response to a question asked by the other person or group of people;
(c) the information the person emails is an argument or rebuttal argument prepared under Section 20A-7-401.5 or 20A-7-402 , and the email includes each opposing argument and rebuttal argument that:
(i) relates to the same proposed initiative, initiative, proposed referendum, or referendum; and
(ii) complies with the requirements of Section 20A-7-401.5 or 20A-7-402 ; or
(d) the person is engaging in:
(i) an internal communication solely within the public entity;
(ii) a communication solely with another public entity;
(iii) a communication solely with legal counsel;
(iv) a communication solely with the sponsors of an initiative or referendum;
(v) a communication solely with a land developer for a project permitted by a local land use law that is challenged by a proposed referendum or a referendum; or
(vi) a communication solely with a person involved in a business transaction directly relating to a project described in Subsection (5)(d)(v).
(6) A violation of this section does not invalidate an otherwise valid election.
(7) An email sent in violation of Subsection (1), as determined by the records officer, constitutes a record, as defined in Section 63G-2-103 , that is subject to the provisions of Title 63G, Chapter 2, Government Records Access and Management Act, notwithstanding any applicability of Subsection 63G-2-103 (25)(b)(i) .

History

Amended by Chapter 22 , 2020 General Session , § 26 , eff. 5/12/2020 .

Amended by Chapter 203 , 2019 General Session , § 40 , eff. 5/14/2019 .

Amended by Chapter 44 , 2018 General Session , § 1 , eff. 5/8/2018 .

Amended by Chapter 68 , 2017 General Session , § 2 , eff. 5/9/2017 .

Added by Chapter 435 , 2015 General Session , § 5 , eff. 5/12/2015 .

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