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Legislation that aims to clean up a controversial bill passed at the end of the 2015 legislative session was aired in a House committee this week.
State Representative Lisa Posthumus-Lyons says some local governments had been breaking state laws for years regarding how they communicate with voters using taxpayer dollars leading up to an election.
Which is why Lyons says the legislature passed a bill prohibiting governments from using taxpayer dollars to send information to voters on ballot proposals within 60 days of an election.
The cleanup legislation in her committee clarifies what is and isn’t allowed but doesn’t really budge from the original premise.
Local governments say the new law places a gag order on them from communicating with voters.
They were hoping the cleanup language would give them more wiggle room.
The measure was not voted on during Wednesday’s hearing.
