Sec. 17. (a) As used in this section, "government employee" refers to any of the following:

(1) An employee of the state.

(2) An employee of a political subdivision.

(3) A special state appointee (as defined in IC 4-2-6-1).

(4) An employee of a charter school (as defined in IC 20-24-1-4).

(b) As used in this section, "government employer" refers to the state or a political subdivision.

(c) As used in this section, "property" refers only to the following:

(1) Equipment, goods, and materials, including mail and messaging systems.

(2) Money.

(d) A government employee may not knowingly or intentionally use the property of the employee's government employer to do any of the following:

(1) Solicit a contribution.

(2) Advocate the election or defeat of a candidate.

(3) Advocate the approval or defeat of a public question.

(e) A government employee may not knowingly or intentionally distribute campaign materials advocating:

(1) the election or defeat of a candidate; or

(2) the approval or defeat of a public question;

on the government employer's real property during regular working hours.

(f) This section does not prohibit the following:

(1) Activities permitted under IC 6-1.1-20.

(2) A government employee from carrying out administrative duties under the direction of an elected official who is the government employee's supervisor.

(g) A government employee who knowingly or intentionally performs several actions described in subsection (d) or (e) in a connected series that are closely related in time, place, and circumstance may be charged with only one (1) violation of this section for that connected series of actions.

(h) A government employee who violates this section commits a Class A misdemeanor. However, the offense is a Level 6 felony if the person has a prior unrelated conviction under this section.

As added by P.L.258-2013, SEC.85. Amended by P.L.219-2013, SEC.72; P.L.168-2014, SEC.2; P.L.169-2015, SEC.157; P.L.216-2015, SEC.34.