Legal Question in Constitutional Law in California
financing
is it legal for a government to require or mandate someone to fund a registered lobbying organization?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: financing
It Depends. The examples that come to mind are 1) The taxes levied on, say avocado growers to fund the California Avocado Growers promotions. 2) Unions have been known to spend members' money lobbying for things the members don't necessarily agree with. 3) Lawyers once were required to pay a portion of their State Bar licensing fees to fund causes they didn't necessarily agree with, until the case of Keller v. State Bar, and now we get to deduct $5 of our $390 annual fee -- which is the amount the State Bar alleges is used for political lobbying. Also, there was a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week having to do with unions.