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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The state capitol has new rules specifying where protests can take place, how signs are to be posted and when leaflets can be handed out.
The new rules immediately came under fire after they were posted online Friday.
In a letter to David Hart, executive director of the Capitol Preservation Board, the Anti-Hunger Action Committee expressed concern about the proposed prohibition of leafletting and other free-speech activities at the state Capitol complex.
"Placing unnecessary restrictions on literature distribution and holding small photographs violates the First Amendment and will discourage low-income people from participating in the political process," wrote committee director Bill Tibbetts.
The new rules were largely written in response to low-income advocacy groups protesting at the capitol earlier this year.
AHAC committee members distributed pictures of decaying and rotten teeth in a failed effort to encourage lawmakers to fund dental services for adult Medicaid patients.
Following the 2006 Legislative session that ended March 1, the Disabled Rights Action Committee and AHAC, and the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, each sued the state after the Utah Highway Patrol stopped them from handing out fliers to passers-by. The groups prevailed in each lawsuit.
"I hope it is an improvement," said Alan Bachman, legal adviser to the Capitol Preservation Board, which approved the rules in July. "Public officials and board members want to make sure Capitol Hill was available for free speech activities. That's one of the critical purposes of the Hill."
New solicitation rules will distinguish between free speech, lobbying and commercial activity on Capitol Hill.
The new rules define leafleting as the "unsolicited distribution of leaflets, handbills, pamphlets, flyers or any other written materials to pedestrians, passers-by or on vehicles."
Leafleting will be allowed in designated free speech areas -- including the Capitol Plaza, Rotunda, East and West Building lobbies and the stairs and terraces of the Capitol itself -- but on in other parts of the Capitol complex.
The state has never had a rule about free speech activities, which has led to confusion about what kinds of activity were allowed and where, Hart said.
"We decided that it would probably be in the public's best interest if we put together a rule covering free speech, so that there was no question of what should or shouldn't be done or could and couldn't be done," he said.
The point is not to limit speech, Hart said, but to lay out some clear guidelines.
"We're not trying to stop that, we're just trying to make sure that it's fair and equal to everybody," he said.
Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City, was the only member of the 11-person board to vote against the proposed rule. Becker said he has heard from others who are opposed to the new restrictions, which he believes go too far in tamping down expressive activity.
"We need to be able to provide equal access to legislators and provide for a reasonable opportunity for those who want to demonstrate as it relates to state actions," Becker said.
The rules will be posted for public comment for 30 days. Then, they will be referred back to the Capitol Preservation Board for possible changes.
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On the Net: Capitol Rules www.rules.utah.gov
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
