Promoting and protecting nonprofit advocacy for a stronger democracy

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Take Action to Stop Nonprofit Gag Provision!

Help stop a stealth attack on advocacy! There will be an attempt to insert an anti-advocacy provision into H.R. 1461, the Housing Finance Reform Act on the House floor Oct 26. Act now to help kill the provision!

The provision would disqualify nonprofits from receiving money from a new affordable housing fund if they have engaged in voter registration and other nonpartisan voter participation activities or lobbying -- or affiliate with any group that does so -- even with their own private funds. The organizations -- and their affiliates -- would be barred from these activities from 12 months before applying for the funds to throughout the grant period.

If enacted, this anti-advocacy amendment would set a dangerous precedent. Nonprofit organizations have a right to use private funding to lobby and engage in non-partisan election activities and should be allowed to exercise this right whether they receive funds from the federal government or not.

To find out more about this provision, visit our Resource Center. The Resource Center is continuously updated with new information, such as Rep. Betty McCollum's (D-MN) Dear Colleague letter opposing the manager's amendment and the Brennan Center for Justice's memo on the unconstitutionality of the provision.

Today, OMB Watch released two new papers on the subject: a description of conflicts with other federal and state laws created by the Nonprofit Gag Provision, and a Q&A to answer your questions.

Under the leadership of the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, nonprofit organizations and concerned individuals across the country are taking a stand against this outrageous provision.

Since time is limited, call your Representative and tell him or her to oppose the Nonprofit Gag Provision. For more details on the legislative procedures, see an alert from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, available at our Resource Center.