A bill from the Catholic Diocese of Boise that would’ve allowed churches to spend money on certain political campaigns without revealing their donors is dead for now.
Under Senate Bill 1365, a religious organization could keep the source of its money secret if it spent less than 10% of its annual income to advocate for or against a ballot initiative, referendum, constitutional amendment or recall election.
But even that 10% wouldn’t apply unless someone asked the Idaho Secretary of State’s office and the complaint was substantiated.
Christian Welp, a lobbyist for the Catholic Diocese of Boise, said he’s been working on the bill since last summer because of a possible ballot initiative to legalize abortion.
“No issue has ever risen to the level of our involvement until now and this issue is abortion,” Welp said.
Idahoans United for Women and Families is close to qualifying an initiative for November’s ballot to once again make abortion legal in the state.
According to the diocese’s latest financial statement from 2025, the Catholic Diocese of Boise brought in $23.2 million in revenue, meaning they could’ve used up to $2.3 million for electioneering under the bill without revealing its funding source.
Currently, churches can donate up to $1,000 to initiative campaigns without having to file disclosure forms.
“People do not want their regular giving to the Church to be made public and there is no way that pastors are going to want to expose their parishioners to this kind of burdensome overreach,” Welp said.
Pastor Paul Lewer from Boise’s The Well, an evangelical Reformed Church, said the current law puts him in an “impossible situation.”
Charitable giving in scripture, Lewer said, should be done in secret without hope of public recognition. He said he’s also called as a pastor to speak out against issues that are “unrighteous.”
“I must obey God’s charge to use the time, talent and treasure of God’s people to fight for what is right, the same way that Christians have been doing for thousands of years,” Lewer said.
Sen. Ben Adams (R-Nampa), who grew up the son of a pastor and missionary, said he agrees churches should weigh in on political issues.
But Adams said this proposal goes too far.
“If you look at the bill it’s five lines, but it changes the entire paradigm – not just at our level, but federally,” he said.
Federal law automatically considers churches to be a tax-exempt, 501c3 nonprofit organization. That designation comes with limitations on political activity, though.
They can advocate for causes, but not candidates. Other nonprofit designations do allow groups to advocate for candidates and issues with varying levels of privacy for its donors.
Adams said churches wanting to get involved with campaigns and elections should create their own political action committees as allowed under state law.
“When it comes to the institution, there is benevolent neutrality that has to play for there to be a separation, or every church just turns into a super PAC,” he said.
Senate Assistant Democratic Leader James Ruchti (D-Pocatello) agreed, rejecting the argument that it would be too heavy of a lift for churches to administer.
“I don’t really think that religious organizations are stifled by having to follow the law as it stands now. They just have to follow the same rules that the rest of us follow,” Ruchti said.
The bill ultimately failed by a single vote, despite backing from most of the Senate Republican leaders.
It cannot be reconsidered in its current form this year.
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