ACR Legislative Update: February 8, 2008

Update on AB 624: On January 29th, the California State Assembly voted in favor of AB 624 by a vote of 45 – 29.

As you may remember, AB 624 – sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Coto – would require foundations to annually collect and publicly disclose the sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and gender of board members, foundation staff, and grantee recipients. AB 624 also requires foundations to report the amount and percentage of grants to organizations where 50 percent or more of board members and staff are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or an ethnic or racial minority.

AB 624 will now be sent to the Senate, where it will be considered by the Senate Business and Professions Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee before being sent to the floor for a vote. Committee consideration of this legislation could occur at any point between now and the end of the California State Legislature session on August 31st.

Many prominent organizations have weighed in opposing the bill. To learn more about this issue and join the Alliance in opposing AB 624, please click here.

Update from the Administration -The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2009: On Monday, the President released his budget proposal for FY 2009. While this proposal is non-binding on Congress, it offers a good insight into the President’s legislative priorities.

The President’s budget request included a number of provisions aimed at the charitable community, including:

Simplifying the net investment income excise tax on private foundations

The President proposes to replace the current two rates of tax on private foundations that are exempt from federal income tax with a single tax rate of one percent. By eliminating the two-tier tax rate, the administration hopes to simplify tax planning for private foundations as well as making additional funds available for charitable purposes by lowering the excise tax rate for all foundations.

Permanently allowing tax-free withdrawals from individual retirement accounts (IRA) for charitable purposes

In 2006, as part of the Pension Protection Act, Congress passed a temporary IRA charitable rollover provision. This provision allowed people age 70 ½ or older to withdrawal up to 100,000 from their IRAs in order to give tax-free charitable donations. However, this provision expired on December 31, 2007. The President’s proposal would make this provision permanent.

For more information on these and other budget recommendations, please click here.

Now, both chambers of Congress must put together and pass its recommended budget and submit it to the Administration. The goal is to pass a budget prior to the new fiscal year starting on October 1, 2009. In the end, expect the final budget to look very different from the President’s proposal.

• Apr. 21, 2008
• Mar. 14, 2008
• Feb. 8, 2008
• Jan 25, 2008
• 2007 Updates
• 2006 Updates