Non-profits join forces to oppose campaign spending bill
By Kimberly Beltran
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
A large coalition of non-profit organizations that includes education groups has come together to protest legislation that would prohibit them from using public resources for campaign purposes.
The proposal also calls for groups that receive at least 20 percent of their total revenue from public resources to maintain those funds in a separate account subject to audit by the Attorney General’s office.
The coalition is also taking issue with SB 594 – authored by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo – because it passed through the Senate and several key Assembly committees as completely different legislation but was re-authored Aug. 7 in a process commonly known as “gut and amend.”
“SB 594 contains broad language that would stop our organizations from participating in state and local ballot campaigns that have a direct impact on our members and the services they provide to the public,” reads a recent letter sent to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature from a broad range of non-profit groups, including associations representing the state’s sheriff’s, police chiefs, cities, counties, district attorneys, land trusts and school boards, administrators and business officials.
“This effectively eliminates our political voice on ballot measures that involve many of California’s most important issues,” the groups stated. “Nonprofit organizations like ours will be shut out of the state and local ballot initiative process – silencing the voices of trusted organizations on matters of critical importance to our constituents and the residents of California.”
Leaders and members of the coalition will air their concerns about the bill during a press conference near the Capitol