Policy Update
Act Now to Oppose the Nonprofit Gag Provision
10/20/2005
Vote Expected Oct. 26, 2005
Source: OMB Watch
The House will likely vote next Wednesday, Oct. 26, on a provision to be introduced as a manager's amendment to the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) in the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act (H.R. 1461) that would dramatically restrict nonprofit advocacy. While it applies only to nonprofits seeking grants under a new Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), the provision sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the speech and association rights of all nonprofits.
The Nonprofit Gag Provision restricts nonprofit entities - it does not apply to for-profit entities - from receiving AHF grants if the organization:
Engages in partisan and nonpartisan voter registration, voter identification, and get-out-the-vote activities;
* Publicly "promotes," "supports," "attacks," or "opposes" a candidate for federal office, which could be interpreted to include criticism of elected officials who may be seeking reelection;
* Broadcasts any ads -- public service announcements, grassroots issue advocacy, anything that refer to federal candidates within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary; or
* Lobbies, except if the group is a 501(c)(3) organization it may lobby within permissible limits.
Affiliation with any entity that engages in any of the above activities during the same time period--12 months before applying for a grant or during the grant period--will also disqualify the group from receiving money from the AHF.
Take action now. Tell your representatives to let House leadership know that this provision should not come to the floor. And if there is a vote on the provision, tell them to oppose the Nonprofit Gag Provision.
Over the past 20 years our community has fended off a number of similar attacks on nonprofit advocacy rights. We will once again need to rise to the occasion, but we have extremely limited time.
Working with groups such as the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, whose members would be directly effected by the provision, OMB Watch has established, and will continually update, a one-stop resource center with analyses, statements, action alerts, and more.
Read a new OMB Watch analysis of the impact of the particularly troubling "affiliation" language of the provision. (Also available is a general summary of the Nonprofit Gag Provision.) By tomorrow, various legal analyses dealing with the constitutional questions raised by the provision will be available at the resource center as well.
Nonprofitadvocacy.org coalition members are collaborating to address this threat. Accordingly, you can address questions to any of the following:
Kay Guinane or Jennifer Lowe Davis of OMB Watch
Perry Wasserman of Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest
Rick Cohen of National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
Erica Greeley of National Council of Nonprofit Associations.