Honolulu voters, not the City Council, should decide whether to legalize certain political advocacy by the city prosecutor, a key council panel has decided.

The issue should be addressed through a city charter amendment, the council's executive matters committee announced Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with an attorney.

Seven council members had sponsored a bill to decide the matter after the state Supreme Court ruled in March that City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle lacked the legal authority to spend taxpayer money to promote a 2002 state constitutional amendment.

But the council balked in May, and again Wednesday, after the American Civil Liberties Union repeatedly warned that the bill would trigger a lawsuit.

Voters approved the 2002 constitutional amendment, which permits county prosecutors to send certain felony defendants to trial based on written reports reviewed by a judge.

Before the change, preliminary hearings or grand jury indictments were required, based on testimony from police and other witnesses.

The high court ruling over the use of public funds stemmed from a lawsuit against Carlisle by the late journalist and political commentator Robert Rees.