Legislation May Eliminate Advocacy by Non-Profits
Provided by the National Community Mental Healthcare Council Action Alert from August 1995
Background:
On August 10, the House of Representatives approved an amendment sponsored by
Reps. Ernest Istook (R-OK), David McIntosh (R-IN) and Robert Ehrlich (R-MD) that
would impose new limits on free speech and advocacy by many non-profit
organizations.
The sponsors of the
amendment claim that new regulation of lobbying and policy advocacy by
non-profits is necessary in order to prevent organizations from using taxpayer
money for political activity. However, federal law already prohibits grantees
from using grant money for lobbying. The Istook amendment would ban any
organization that receives a federal grant from using more than 5% of its own,
non-grant money for any activity loosely defined as "advocacy."
The amendment's definition
of advocacy encompasses all attempts to influence public policy at the national,
state, and local levels, including: direct lobbying, meeting with a public
official, grassroots education, writing a letter to the editor, filing an amicus
brief, testifying before an agency, or any other activity that might be intended
to influence government activities. The amendment goes so far as to prohibit
these activities by organizations whose core mission includes advocacy, e.g.
Protection and Advocacy organizations.
Non-Profit
Federal Grantees Would Be Gagged: The Istook amendment would have a far
reaching impact on non-profit human service providers. For example, a non-profit
community mental health organization that receives a federal grant to aid
homeless persons with mental illness could be prohibited from testifying before
a state agency that was considering cutting funding to local shelters. Again, it
is important to remember that the organization is using its own, non-grant money
for this purpose.
Enforcement of the Istook
amendment is certain to be very costly for non-profit human service
organizations by adding more red tape and difficult administrative procedures.
In order to enforce the new rule, the Istook proposal would require every
organization receiving a federal grant to keep detailed records of any
activities that could be considered advocacy. In addition, every grantee would
also have to keep track of, and in some cases report, the advocacy activities of
every employee and every business from which it purchases goods or services.