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February 13, 2007
A What Kind of Office?
Assembly Member Kevin Jeffries has introduced a bill (AB 165) into the California State Assembly that would establish an "Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives" that would report to the governor. According to the proposed legislation the "Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives" would,
. . . serve as a clearinghouse of information on federal, state, and local funding for charitable services performed by charitable organizations, as defined, encourage those organizations to seek public funding for their charitable services, act as a liaison between state agencies and those organizations, and advise the Governor, the Legislature, and an advisory board of the office on the barriers to collaboration between those organizations and governmental entities and on strategies to remove those barriers. [emphasis added]
So what exactly is an "organization" as defined in this proposal? Well, the AB 165 tells us quite clearly.
12082. As used in this article, "organization" means an entity that is exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and provides charitable services to needy residents of this state. The organization may be, but is not required to be, faith-based. [emphasis added]
So it has nothing to do with faith-based anything and has every thing to do with pandering to the faith community. But it is really worse than that. By using "Faith-Based in its title, it will discourage other qualified groups from going to the new office and will imply, by title that faith-based groups will get special treatment.
This bill should be defeated. If it is true that a special office is needed to assist 501(c)(3)m organizations access government resources, and I doubt that it is, then the bill should get rid of the pandering and the implication of special treatment.
Via Pharyngula
Posted by Duane Smith at February 13, 2007 6:52 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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