20A-11-1205. Use of public email for a political purpose.
(1) Except as provided in Subsection, a person may not send an email using the email of a public entity: (5) for a political purpose; to advocate for or against a proposed initiative, initiative, proposed referendum, referendum, a proposed bond, a bond, or any ballot proposition; or to solicit a campaign contribution.
(2) 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 Subsectionas follows: (1) up to $250 for a first violation; and except as provided in Subsection, 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. (3) A person may, within 30 days after the day on which the lieutenant governor imposes a fine against the person under this Subsection, appeal the fine to a district court. (2)
(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: the lieutenant governor finds that the email described in Subsectionwas inadvertently sent by the person using the email of a public entity; (1) 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; the information the person emails is an argument or rebuttal argument prepared under Sectionor, and the email includes each opposing argument and rebuttal argument that: 20A-7-401.5 20A-7-402 relates to the same proposed initiative, initiative, proposed referendum, or referendum; and complies with the requirements of Sectionor; or 20A-7-401.5 20A-7-402 the person is engaging in: an internal communication solely within the public entity; a communication solely with another public entity; a communication solely with legal counsel; a communication solely with the sponsors of an initiative or referendum; 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 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, as determined by the records officer, constitutes a record, as defined in Section, that is subject to the provisions of, notwithstanding any applicability of Subsection. (1) 63G-2-103 Title 63G, Chapter 2, Government Records Access and Management Act 63G-2-103(26)(b)(i)