Included in this May 2022 Legislative Round-Up

• • State Privacy Laws – The Patchwork Quilt Grows Larger
  • Universal Charitable Deduction: The Effort to Expand Continues
  • ICYMI: The Monthly Government Affairs Video Update
  • From the States

The Patchwork Quilt of Varying State Privacy Laws Grows Ever Larger

As feared, the number of states which have enacted their own state privacy laws continues to grow. The list now includes 5 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah. An additional 4 states are considering their own comprehensive data privacy legislation: Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Michigan. It is very likely that one or more of these will be enacted this year. As has been TNPA’s long-standing concern, when the number of states with privacy statutes increases, so too does the cost of compliance, particularly for our commercial partners, who work closely with nonprofit organizations collecting and maintaining data. As the cost of compliance increases, so too does the cost to nonprofits to acquire the data essential to nonprofit missions and the fundraising that fuels them.

There is a solution: Enactment by Congress of robust national privacy legislation could preempt the array of state privacy laws, providing important safeguards for consumers, while facilitating the responsible use of data by nonprofits. It appears Congress views national privacy legislation as a “next year” issue, with other legislative priorities on its plate, including a long list of appropriations bills to fund the government, as well as the efforts of the Biden Administration to enact some part of its Build Back Better proposal.

TNPA continues to work on laying a foundation for enactment of national privacy legislation next year. Specifically, with virtually all political analysts predicting the Republicans to retake the House after the November election, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) is expected to chair the all-important Energy & Commerce Committee. The Congresswoman has been a long-time supporter of national privacy legislation and TNPA has worked closely with the Congresswoman in promoting the need for such legislation.

In terms of the Senate, which is currently an even 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, TNPA has been working with a number of Senators of both parties to move comprehensive national privacy legislation up on the list of legislative priorities for 2023.

So stay tuned – We have a lot of work to do to get national privacy legislation over the goal line and enacted into law.

To read about other state laws being proposed or enacted, visit Legislation in the States.

The Effort to Extend the Universal Charitable Deduction Continues

The Universal Charitable Deduction which provides a $600 deduction for married taxpayers filing jointly and a $300 deduction for single taxpayers expired at year-end on December 31, 2021. In the effort to extend the Universal Charitable Deduction, most of the action has been in the Senate where Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Coons (D-DE) have been tireless advocates on this issue. The number of Senators supporting their legislation continues to grow with now 16 Senators — 8 Republicans and 8 Democrats — who have signed as cosponsors of the Lankford/Coons bill.

It appears that the extension of the Universal Charitable Deduction for tax year 2022 will be tied to a package of similarly expired tax provisions (most notably among them is the Research & Development Tax Credit). Unfortunately, Congress will likely not take up this package until later this year.

TNPA however, will continue to play the “long game” on this issue with our goal being to get the Universal Charitable Deduction reauthorized for 2022, and then in 2023 seek to make the deduction permanent, and ideally increase its size. We are working closely with both Senators Lankford and Coons on this important legislation.

Read more about the Universal Charitable Deduction under our Policy Priorities.

ICYMI: Government Affairs Video Update – May 2022

TNPA’s Vice President, Government Affairs, Mark Micali is here to keep you in the loop on what is happening on Capitol Hill on issues important to the nonprofit sector. Watch the video for this month’s update on tax policy, universal charitable deductions, and federal privacy policy. Visit our policy page to view the video.

From the States

We continue to follow legislation in many states. For more details and additional state bills that could impact the work of the nonprofit sector, as well as links to the actual bills, visit our States Policy page.

Author: Mark Micali

Mark Micali is Vice President, Government Affairs for The Nonprofit Alliance and has spent his career on Capitol Hill.  You can reach him at mmicali@tnpa.org.