Attorney General Becerra: We’re Ready to Defend California’s Charitable Donation Reporting Requirement Safeguarding Donors from Fraud

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued the following statement on today’s news that the U.S. Supreme Court will review challenges to California’s charitable donor reporting requirement in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra and Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra.

“California’s donor reporting rules simply require charities to provide the state, on a confidential basis, the same information about major donors that they already provide to the federal government,” said Attorney General Becerra. “This information helps the state protect consumers from fraud and the misuse of their charitable contributions. We look forward to defending our rules before the Supreme Court.”

On September 11, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that California’s donor reporting requirement does not violate the First Amendment. On August 26, 2019, Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Thomas More Law Center filed petitions for writs of certiorari, requesting that the Supreme Court review that decision. On November 25, 2019, Attorney General Becerra filed a brief in opposition to the cert petitions, arguing that the court of appeals had correctly rejected the organizations’ constitutional challenges.