On November 21st, 2024, Congress passed the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, aka HR 9495. If signed into law, the bill would hand huge powers to the Trump administration to declare any nonprofit they dislike to be a “terrorist-supporting” organization and strip them of their nonprofit status without having to share the evidence as to why this designation was given in the first place.
Democrats, including Monterey Bay area Congressional Representative Jimmy Panetta, voted for it against stiff opposition from local nonprofit leaders and activists who lobbied hard and whittled down the number of Democratic votes from 72 on a previous vote to 15.
In this interview, we hear from local activist, Rick Longinotti, Lead Counsel for the ACLU, Kia Hamadanchy, and Eric Gorovitz, attorney at Adler and Colvin law firm in San Francisco, and author of the blog, A&C Nonprofit News.
Jimmy Panetta’s Letter Explaining his VoteCongressman Panetta Response
