[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2886 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2886

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure the religious free 
exercise and free speech rights of churches and other houses of worship 
     to engage in an insubstantial amount of political activities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2002

Mr. Smith of New Hampshire (for himself, Mr. Helms, and Mr. Hutchinson) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure the religious free 
exercise and free speech rights of churches and other houses of worship 
     to engage in an insubstantial amount of political activities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Houses of Worship Political Speech 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. HOUSES OF WORSHIP PERMITTED TO ENGAGE IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS, 
              ETC.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (3) of section 501(c) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and which does not'' and inserting 
        ``except in the case of an organization described in section 
        508(c)(1)(A) (relating to churches), which does not'', and
            (2) by inserting before the period ``and, in the case of an 
        organization described in section 508(c)(1)(A), no substantial 
        part of the activities of which is participating in, or 
        intervening in (including the publishing or distributing of 
        statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in 
        opposition to) any candidate for public office''.
    (b) No Disbursements for Electioneering Communications.--The 
amendments made by this section may not be construed to permit any 
disbursements for electioneering communications which are impermissible 
under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.).
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to expenditures made after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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