Donors to Charities Can’t Be Exposed Under New Mississippi Law
Mississippi’s governor has signed into law a donor privacy bill designed to protect the anonymity of those who give money to nonprofit charities.
The new
law prohibits state government officials from soliciting or releasing donor
information from charitable groups that fall under section 501 of federal tax law.
Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed the legislation known as HB 1205 last week after both houses of the Mississippi Legislature passed it.
“In
recent years, charitable donations have been weaponized by certain groups
against individuals to punish donors whose political beliefs differ from their
own,” Bryant said afterward in a tweet March
28. “I was pleased today to sign HB 1205, which protects free speech rights of
Mississippians who make charitable donations.”
Not
everyone in Mississippi was on board with the donor privacy bill.
In an opinion piece published in The Meridian Star, columnist Bill Crawford urged the
governor to veto the legislation. Crawford accused Republican state lawmakers
of working “to protect dark money from the light of transparency.”
Crawford
wrote that he views HB 1205 as an extension of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling
in the 2010 case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. He argued that the high court’s decision made it possible for
“big money individuals and corporations” to “funnel …read more