LANSING (WKZO-AM) — Michigan’s House Elections Committee has approved a rewrite of the controversial ballot “gag order” law, but the changes to the Republican-authored legislation aren’t enough to please some Democrats.
Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, said it still needs work.
The law was passed in a rush before lawmakers broke for Christmas. It prohibits local, municipal and school taxing units from publishing any information about a ballot issue two months prior to an election.
Hoadley said the revamped law was, once again, held until the last minute and sprung on lawmakers.
It would allow the units to publish material, as long as it was “factual” and “strictly neutral.” Hoadley said those and other vague phrases would create a legal tangle.
“It’s a lawyer-employment bill, because it’s going to end up in court for years now on what exactly is ‘factual’ and what is ‘strictly neutral,’” Hoadley said.
It’s supposed to curb abuses by local boards who are currently banned by law from using tax dollars to promote a positive vote on a ballot item.
Hoadley said it’s a solution for a problem that does not exist. “Of the 100 communities that were having elections there were only a handful of complaints,” Hoadley said. “And only half of those were substantiated.”
The current law is already being challenged in federal courts on constitutional free speech grounds.
– John McNeill
