Utah Code 20A-11-1205. Use of public email for a political purpose
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(1) Except as provided in Subsection (5), a person may not send an email using the email of a public entity:
Terms Used In Utah Code 20A-11-1205
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Ballot: means the storage medium, including a paper, mechanical, or electronic storage medium, that records an individual voter's vote. See Utah Code 20A-1-102
- Contribution: means any of the following when done for political purposes:(6)(a)(i) a gift, subscription, donation, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value given to the filing entity;(6)(a)(ii) an express, legally enforceable contract, promise, or agreement to make a gift, subscription, donation, unpaid or partially unpaid loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value to the filing entity;(6)(a)(iii) any transfer of funds from another reporting entity to the filing entity;(6)(a)(iv) compensation paid by any person or reporting entity other than the filing entity for personal services provided without charge to the filing entity;(6)(a)(v) remuneration from:(6)(a)(v)(A) any organization or its directly affiliated organization that has a registered lobbyist; or(6)(a)(v)(B) any agency or subdivision of the state, including school districts;(6)(a)(vi) a loan made by a candidate deposited to the candidate's own campaign; and(6)(a)(vii) in-kind contributions. See Utah Code 20A-11-101
- Election: means each:
(13)(a) regular general election;(13)(b) regular primary election; and(13)(c) special election at which candidates are eliminated and selected. See Utah Code 20A-11-101- Land: includes :
(18)(a) land;(18)(b) a tenement;(18)(c) a hereditament;(18)(d) a water right;(18)(e) a possessory right; and(18)(f) a claim. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5- Person: means both natural and legal persons, including individuals, business organizations, personal campaign committees, party committees, political action committees, political issues committees, and labor organizations, as defined in Section
20A-11-1501 . See Utah Code 20A-11-101- Proposed initiative: means an initiative proposed in an application filed under Section 20A-7-202 or 20A-7-502. See Utah Code 20A-11-1202
- Proposed referendum: means a referendum proposed in an application filed under Section 20A-7-302 or 20A-7-602. See Utah Code 20A-11-1202
- Public entity: includes the state, each state agency, each county, municipality, school district, special district, governmental interlocal cooperation agency, and each administrative subunit of each of them. See Utah Code 20A-11-1202
(1)(a) for a political purpose;(1)(b) to advocate for or against a proposed initiative, initiative, proposed referendum, referendum, a proposed bond, a bond, or any ballot proposition; or(1)(c) to solicit a campaign contribution.(2)(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:(2)(a)(i) up to $250 for a first violation; and(2)(a)(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.(2)(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:(5)(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;(5)(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;(5)(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:(5)(c)(i) relates to the same proposed initiative, initiative, proposed referendum, or referendum; and(5)(c)(ii) complies with the requirements of Section 20A-7-401.5 or 20A-7-402; or(5)(d) the person is engaging in:(5)(d)(i) an internal communication solely within the public entity;(5)(d)(ii) a communication solely with another public entity;(5)(d)(iii) a communication solely with legal counsel;(5)(d)(iv) a communication solely with the sponsors of an initiative or referendum;(5)(d)(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(5)(d)(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). - Election: means each: