Tag Archives: Finance Committee

California’s Attack On Boy Scouts Continue

April 11, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 11, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ — Senate Bill 323 came one step closer to becoming California law as the bill easily passed out of the California Senate Governance and Finance Committee on a party-line vote. Should SB 323 become law, it would break new ground in using the tax system to punish those who are disliked by LGBT activists.

SB 323 would remove certain State tax exemptions for public charity youth organizations that discriminate on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or religious affiliation.

While the target of this bill is the Boy Scouts (the Committee’s official analysis says “it is clearly aimed at them”), its effects are much wider than that.

According to Karen England, Executive Director of the Capitol Resource Institute, “SB 323 requires that youth sports leagues allow children of any gender to participate on any team. But the State intends to reach beyond the playing field and into locker rooms, showers and bathrooms also. This bill’s prohibition on gender identity discrimination means that a boy claiming gender confusion is permitted to share those facilities with girls. Any attempt at segregation risks a fine in the form of taxes.”

At the Committee hearing, proponents of the new law seemed genuinely angry that California’s various pronouncements about sexuality are not being observed by certain youth organizations. “They seem to believe that the Legislature’s labeling of so many things as discrimination should settle the issue,” said England. “Of course they are wrong on the law and they have misjudged public opinion.”

In the landmark case of Boy Scouts of America, et al. v. Dale, the United States Supreme Court determined that the First Amendment right of “expressive association” trumped the laws of a state dealing with this same type of discrimination. The Boy Scouts were allowed to deny an openly homosexual man a leadership position in a local Scout troop, even though the laws of the State declared such a denial to be impermissible discrimination.

According to England, “The public seems to agree with the Supreme Court. If a mother says she wants to choose the role models for her 12 year-old when sending him to a voluntary club, most of us do not equate her with the racist bent on bringing back segregation. We get it that tolerance is a two way street. And we are a little unnerved by the idea that those who currently hold political power in our State might now use that power to bankrupt any organization that does not agree with them.”

“It is ironic that so many of those who are demanding that individuals be able to marry the one they choose would at the same time deny the right of the individual to simply choose his Scout leader,” said England.

Christian Newswire

Contact: Karen England,
Capitol Resource Institute,
916-212-5607,
Kengland@capitolresource.org

Photo Credit: Hoffman Estates, IL

Articles of Interest

California Democrats Want Scouts to Pay for Gay Stance

April 11, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Kevin Spak California Democrats are out to make the Boy Scouts pay for their refusal to accept openly gay members. The state’s Senate Governance and Finance Committee passed a bill yesterday revoking tax-exempt status from any nonprofit that discriminates based on sexual orientation, gender, or religious affiliation, the LA Times reports. Sponsors…

From: http://www.newser.com/story/166062/california-democrats-want-scouts-to-pay-for-gay-stance.html

Articles of Interest

California Tax Bill Aimed At Boy Scouts’ Gay Ban Passes Vote

April 10, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By The Huffington Post News Editors

SAN FRANCISCO — A bill aimed at pressuring the Boy Scouts of America to lift its ban on gay members by making the organization ineligible for nonprofit tax breaks cleared its first vote on Wednesday in the California Legislature.

The Senate Governance and Finance Committee voted 5 to 2 to move the first-of-its-kind bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee for review.

Calif. tax bill seeks to punish Scouts for gay ban

April 9, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

California lawmakers are considering taking some tax exemptions away from youth groups that do not accept gay, transgender or atheist members — a move intended to pressure the Boy Scouts of America to lift its ban on gay Scouts and troop leaders.

Some cities have withdrawn free rent and other subsidies from the Boy Scouts over the years, but legislation introduced by state Sen. Ricardo Lara would make California the first state to target the Scouts for its anti-gay policy.

The Long Beach Democrat’s bill, SB 323, is scheduled for its first committee hearing on Wednesday.

“Our state values the important role that youth groups play in the empowerment of our next generation; this is demonstrated by rewarding organizations with tax exemptions supported financially by all Californians,” Lara said. “SB 323 seeks to end the unfortunate discriminatory and outdated practices by certain youth groups.”

Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, told The Associated Press the organization was preparing a response to the proposal.

The legislation would deny tax-exempt status to nonprofit youth groups that discriminate on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion or religious affiliation.

As a result, it would require those organizations to pay corporate taxes on donations, membership dues, camp fees and other sources of income, and to obtain sellers permits and pay sales taxes on food, beverages and homemade items sold at fundraisers.

Churches that sponsor Boy Scouts troops would not lose their underlying tax-exempt status, but an array of nonprofits, ranging from the Young Men’s Christian Association and Pop Warner football to the American Youth Soccer Association and 4-H clubs would have their tax returns and membership policies scrutinized by the state Franchise Tax Board if the bill becomes law, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office.

Also known as the Youth Equality Act, the bill requires a two-thirds vote from both houses of the Legislature and the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown to become law.

Legal aid groups that represent religious conservatives have cautioned the Senate Governance and Finance Committee that the measure conflicts with a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of private groups such as the Boy Scouts to exclude gays and lesbians from serving as adult leaders.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Parents of engineer who died in Singapore want murder probe

March 1, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

The family of an American who turned up dead in Singapore after expressing fear he was being duped by Chinese spies is calling for a congressional investigation into his death in Singapore.

Relatives of Shane Todd, 31, believe the Montana man — who was worried that his employers in Singapore were using him to help China get its hands on sensitive technologies to harm U.S. national security — was murdered to cover up his discovery of the purported plot.

“He told us that his life was being threatened,” Todd’s mother, Mary, told Fox News Channel on Friday.

Just two days after his final day of work in June and a going-away party with colleagues, his girlfriend found him dead in June 2012, hanging from his bathroom door. Police and the coroner believe Todd hanged himself in the bathroom, leaving two suicide notes on his computer, CBS News reports.

Mary Todd said she immediately doubted the authenticity of the note.

“My son did not write this note,” she continued. “He did not take his own life.”

Todd’s relatives have since been pressing U.S. officials to investigate the death following a lack of cooperation from Singapore authorities. They met with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., in Washington on Friday.

A spokesperson for Baucus tells FoxNews.com that he set up a meeting for the family with the State Department. He will meet face-to-face with the Singaporean Ambassador to the U.S. next week and has personally weighed in on the issue with top White House officials.

Baucus had staff from his Finance Committee meet with U.S. embassy and Singaporean officials last week, the spokesperson said.

Shane Todd graduated in 2005 with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and later received his doctorate at the University of California-Santa Barbara. In 2010, he chose a job in Singapore because he was looking for adventure, he told his parents.

He took a position at the Institute of Microelectronics, a Singaporean government research institution, to work on cutting-edge technology involving powerful semiconductors. An investigation by the Financial Times magazine revealed that the technology has other applications desired by China, including applications that can be used to disrupt enemy radar and communications.

“What has to happen is we need a congressional investigation,” Mary Todd said.

FoxNews.com’s Joshua Rhett Miller contributed to this report.

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