Support eroding as debate begins on religious disclosure
BOSTON — Citing concerns over its constitutionality, state Rep. John Scibak, D-South Hadley, says he is now opposed to a bill that would require religious organizations to file annual financial statements with the state attorney general’s office.
Scibak says the bill, which will be debated by the Massachusetts House on Wednesday, "is seeking an inappropriate intrusion of government into church matters which would fundamentally violate the separation of church and state."
The legislation, passed by the Senate in November by a vote of 33-4, would require all religious organizations with annual revenue of more than $500,000 to file yearly financial disclosures including real estate holdings with the attorney general’s office.
At the time of its passage in the Senate, the bill was widely seen as a reaction to the clergy sex abuse scandal. The proposed legislation initially seemed to be heading for easy passage in the House.
But over the past two months, a number of supporters of the bill appear to have changed their minds. Scibak says that though he was initially inclined to support the bill, after doing more research he is now opposed.
Scibak says the bill places an undue burden on many religious organizations and congregations that, he says, "have full transparency in their financial reporting."
Scibak says that information now allows congregations to take action if they don’t like what they see, including the removal of trustees and members of the finance committee.
Scibak said he also worries that even if enacted, the legislation would not accomplish what its proponents seem to want.
"The bill would only require one report from each of the four dioceses/archdioceses in Massachusetts," he says. Scibak believes many Catholics are looking for much more disclosure.
Other lawmakers have come to the same conclusion as a number of Massachusetts’ church organizations lobby heavily against the bill, including the Massachusetts Catholic Conference and the Jewish Community Relations Council.
In yet another sign of dwindling support for the bill, on Monday, Gov. Mitt Romney, who had previously indicated he might support the bill, announced that he would now oppose it.
Romney said the bill’s annual filing requirements went beyond a routine regulatory interaction and instead represented "an intrusion in religious practice."
Proponents say the legislation would give people who contribute to religious organizations the same view into an organization’s finances as that now available into virtually all nonprofit charities. The proposed law would also bring these religious organizations under the oversight of the Attorney General’s charities’ division, something the bill’s supporters say is long overdue.
Jim Bildner reports for the Boston University Statehouse Program.