LANSING, MI -- A bill that would ban public entities from distributing information about ballot proposals close to an election is sitting on Gov. Rick Snyder's desk, but dozens of local officials are urging him to veto it.

Senate Bill 571 passed the legislature on Dec. 16 with some extensive last-minute revisions. The bill expanded from 12 pages to 53 pages, but of all the changes one provision has rankled cities and school districts: the one that would prevent public entities from distributing information about a ballot proposal in the 60 days before an election.

"In other words, in the weeks before an election we cannot use a mailing or local cable outlets to inform our constituents if a measure will raise or lower their tax rate, who it will affect, if it will mean the community will be selling a piece of property and where it is, how a charter change will affect them or anything else," said Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly, president of the Michigan Municipal League.

It's already the case that public bodies cannot use public funds to advocate for or against a ballot proposal. What they can do is distribute factual information without telling voters how to vote on an issue. That would end 60 days before an election under this bill, which local leaders said at a press conference Tuesday would put local governments at a huge disadvantage.

"I think the point is if I was strategically opposing a millage, I would wait until the last 60 days to oppose the millage and then you have no chance for rebuttal," said Terry Jungel, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff's Association.

Republican Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett said perhaps this is a legislative effort to stop tax increases, but that's not what's going on in his community. Over the past four years the largely conservative community has considered seven ballot proposals, and only one was a tax increase.

To educate voters on these issues, which are often complicated, Rochester Hills government has turned to YouTube and public access television. But the line could get blurry.

"Can I respond to a resident asking a question about a millage proposal? It's very concerning," Barnett said.

That concern was echoed by Democratic Dearborn Mayor John O'Reilly, who said "we're going to end up having a lot of effort made trying to interpret where that line is."

Michigan Municipal League President and CEO Dan Gilmartin said it was a mistake to rely on traditional media to inform voters at a time when reporters are dwindling in number.

"There have been huge cuts in media... we've seen the last couple of decades," Gilmartin said.

Under the bills, he said a local official wouldn't even be able to mention an important community ballot issue in their newsletter.

Groups urging Snyder to veto the bill include: