Louisiana
Legislators Should Not Put Taxpayer Money in the Plate for Churches and
Ministries to Use for Evangelistic Purposes
ACLU Calls on Senate to
Strip Certain Earmarks
For immediate release
June 15,
2007
BATON
ROUGE¾The ACLU of Louisiana urges the State
Senate to strip earmarked tax dollars out of the budget that go directly to fund
churches and evangelistic ministries in violation of the First Amendment.
The State House has already passed the appropriations bill that contains at
least 10 questionable items inserted by legislators without any detailed
information about the churches and groups slated for special favors.
“Churches are
important to their members, but they must be supported by voluntary giving, not
government subsidies,” ACLU Executive Director Joe Cook said. “Individual
legislators are trying to slip in earmarks of nearly $500,000 for their favored
ministries that could support preaching and proselytizing.”
HB1, the
Appropriations Bill is one of several bills the legislature considers each year
which taken together, make up the state budget for the year. None of the
questionable appropriations was in the original bill. All were added in by
amendments offered in the Appropriations Committee. The package of
committee amendments then was approved by the full House.
“We don’t usually
follow the Appropriations Committee too closely,” said ACLU contract lobbyist J.
Michael Malec. “Most of the civil liberties issues are in criminal law, health
and welfare, open government and other areas in other committees. I’ve
been here ten years, and I can’t remember anything like this
before.”
Legislative
officials noted that before Governor Blanco eliminated the urban and rural
funds, often called “slush funds,” local expenditures by legislators to groups
in their districts did not appear in HB1 directly, but only as appropriations to
the urban and rural funds, which may explain why such direct items have not been
in the bill in years past.
The ACLU requested
back-up documentation for the questionable budget items, which by the rules of
the Appropriations Committee are required for expenditures. A few
legislators were responsive to our request and have provided information, but
the others claimed legislative privilege or did not answer the query. We
still lack information to justify the following, which show the legislator and
the designated budget items to the right:
Rep. Ernest Baylor,
Jr.
Shreveport, LA 71108
Shreveport
Christian Church-$20,000
(318)632-2050
(Fax)
The Olive Branch Ministries-$20,000
larep003@legis.state.la.us
Rep. Cheryl A. Gray for Rep. Austin
Badon
1100 Poydras St., Ste. 2621
Saint Peter
Claver Church in New Orleans-$130,000
New Orleans, LA 70163
(504)588-2179 (Fax)
225-342-8336 (BR fax)
larep098@legis.state.la.us
Rep. John A. Alario,
Jr.
1063 Muller
Parkway
Israelite Baptist Church of Crowley-$100,000
Westwego, LA
70094-5616
(504)341-0794 (Fax)
smithg@legis.state.la.us
Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock
Saratoga St., Ste. 7
Learning Unlimited Christian Academy, Inc.-$50,000
New
Orleans, LA 70115
Greater Antioch
Full Gospel Baptist Church-$10,000
(504)896-1480 (Fax)
Abundant Life Baptist Church-$20,000
225-342-8336 (BR fax)
Pentecost
Baptist Church-$10,000
larep091@legis.state.la.us
Fifth African Baptist Church-$10,000
“We as taxpayers have a right know how our money will be
used on every line item, and the legislature needs to pass a bill, which would
require full disclosure of who gets the money, for what legitimate purpose and
require a legislative audit to ensure compliance,” said Cook. “Absent
that, the state appears in the listed instances to endorse giving taxpayer money
to certain churches or for religious activities and materials, which obviously
violates the Constitution.”