1400 - Public Funds Related to Referenda

Community Relations

1400 – Public Funds Related to Referenda

Connecticut General Statutes prohibit the expenditure of public funds relating to referenda under certain conditions when a referendum is pending.

Regarding the printing and distribution of information concerning a referendum question, the following conditions for such expenditures are as follows:

a. a vote of the municipality’s legislative body is needed to authorize the “explanatory text”;

b. the preparation of the text must be made by the municipal clerk and approved by the municipal attorney;

c. the text shall specify the intent and purpose of each referendum or question; and

d. such text shall not advocate either the approval or the disapproval of the referendum proposal or question.

The prohibition on expenditures also applies to the use of school facilities, website, supplies, and equipment and postal permits to advocate a position on a referendum. For example, parent teacher organizations and school administrators may not use school equipment to prepare or copy advocacy material even if the school system is reimbursed for such use. Students may not be used to carry advocacy materials home except in the limited circumstance set forth in Board Policy 1401 Children in School as Couriers for Referenda. This prohibition also extends to the use of a school’s public address system to advocate a position on a referendum. Teachers may not advocate a position on a referendum to students while actually on duty.

Legal References:

Connecticut General Statutes

9-369b Local questions and proposals. Preparation, printing and dissemination of explanatory texts and other materials

State Election Enforcement Commission, Guide to Financing A Referendum

www.ct.gov/seec/i.b./seec/publications/guidebooks/a_guide_to_financing_a_referencum_question

Policy adopted: October 1991

Revised: June 2019