Proposed bill could punish nonprofits
Saying organizations are raising huge amounts of money in California to promote the agenda of last year’s Capitol rioters, a Bay Area lawmaker is proposing legislation to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit that supports an insurrection against the federal or state government or “any effort to overturn democratic election results.”
“We’re not trying to undermine protected free speech. We’re trying to deal with efforts to overthrow a democratically elected government,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said Wednesday about his newly introduced bill, SB834, which he described as the first such proposal in the nation.
While the actions of rioters and the certification of elections are governed by numerous laws, Wiener said, there is little regulation of the California nonprofits that are funding campaigns to support insurrectionists and efforts to discredit or overturn elections, and cut into public revenue with their tax-exempt status.
“If you are engaged in or supporting or advocating for overthrow of the U.S. government or any state government, or advocating to overturn and nullify democratic elections, you should not have that privilege,” Wiener said.
He said his legislation would rescind tax exemptions for any California nonprofit whose fundraising in the state supported an insurrection, past or present, or any attempt to overturn results of a democratic election or obstruct the “peaceful transfer of power.” For nonprofits located outside the state that are raising money in
California for such purposes, Wiener said, the bill would cancel the registration that allows them to collect funds in the state.
Federal law already denies tax-exempt status to organizations that support terrorism, Wiener said.
He also cited the Supreme Court’s 1983 ruling upholding the Internal Revenue Service’s revocation of a tax exemption for Bob Jones University, a college in South Carolina that prohibited its students from dating or marrying anyone of a different race.
The senator acknowledged that there can be a “fine line” between criticizing election procedures or vote tabulation, protected by the constitutional right to free speech, and attempts to overturn elections or overthrow the government.
“We have to thread a needle in defining what that means,” Wiener said. “We’re going to be working with First Amendment experts. People have a right to express their point of view, but at some point you cross the line when you are advocating and encouraging efforts to overthrow the U.S. government and overturn democracy.”