New guidance from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office finds that churches can spend money supporting or opposing ballot initiatives without disclosing their donors under certain circumstances.
The opinion from Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office published Aug. 27 said that includes the push to restore abortion rights under Proposition 1.
Churches can even avoid disclosing their donors as long as they use their general funds instead of asking congregants to donate specifically to speak out on a ballot initiative.
“This is because the donors generally donate to churches as an act of worship or as an exercise of their religious beliefs,” the opinion stated.
Instead, just the church’s name would appear on campaign finance reports instead of its parishioners.
The Idaho Secretary of State’s office requested the opinion after “several churches” sought clarification on how campaign finance laws may apply to them.
“[They] expressed their intention to oppose the ballot initiative based on their sincerely held religious beliefs in the sanctity of human life, beginning at conception, and came to your office seeking guidance on whether the Sunshine Law would force them to disclose the identity of all their donors,” the opinion found.
The AG hinges his opinion on Idaho’s Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act, which bans the government from substantially burdening someone who’s practicing their religion.
This interpretation would trump requirements under the state’s sunshine law that helps citizens understand who is trying to influence elections.
“[Revealing a church’s donors] will substantially burden the churches' exercise of its religion as it may curtail their willingness to engage in their religiously motivated practice of opposing or supporting the Abortion Initiative,” according to the opinion.
The interpretation from Labrador’s office accomplishes a similar goal set out by Senate Bill 1365, though that proposal would’ve limited church spending to 10% of its total donations for the prior year.
A state senate committee narrowly rejected that legislation during a hearing in March.
Christian Welp, a lobbyist for the Catholic Diocese of Boise, told lawmakers he had been working on the legislation for months as Idahoans United for Women and Families worked to get Prop 1 on the ballot.
According to its latest financial statement from 2025, the diocese 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.
At the time, Sen. Ben Adams (R-Nampa), who grew up as the son of a pastor and missionary, said churches should be allowed to participate in the political process.
However, 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.
Prop 1 is already slated to be this year’s most expensive race.
As of Monday morning, the two main groups involved in the campaign – Too Extreme for Idaho and Idahoans United for Women and Families – have raised more than $4.6 million combined.
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