HIS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Part 1 – Definitions and Application

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"advocacy organization" means a corporation, society, partnership, trust or other organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated and whether operated for profit or not, that

(a) provides public education, advocacy or public communications in the Province, or communicates with or attempts to influence a government body or public office holder, in relation to

(i) 2SLGBTQIA+ identities, communities or interests,

(ii) Indigenous peoples or the rights of Indigenous peoples,

(iii) environmental protection or conservation,

(iv) drug use or harm reduction, homelessness or poverty, or

(v) any other issue or category of issues prescribed by regulation, or

(b) provides financial or material support to an entity that carries out an activity described in paragraph (a) where the value of that support in a fiscal year equals or exceeds the lesser of

(i) $10 000, or

(ii) 10% of the supporting organization's total annual revenue;

"affiliate", in relation to an advocacy organization, means an entity that

(a) controls the organization,

(b) is controlled by the organization, or

(c) is controlled by the same person or entity that controls the organization;

"annual disclosure report" means an annual disclosure report that meets the requirements set out in section 3;

"control" means, in terms of its exercise by an advocacy organization in respect of an entity,

(a) the direct or indirect ownership of the entity by the organization,

(b) the ability of the organization to exercise direction or control over more than 50 per cent of the voting rights or equity interests of the entity, or

(c) the ability of the organization to direct the management or policies of the entity by any means;

"court" means the Supreme Court of British Columbia;

"federal public funding" means money provided directly or indirectly by

(a) the Government of Canada,

(b) a federal Crown corporation, or

(c) a federal department, agency, board or commission;

"foreign funding" means money, financial assistance or other pecuniary benefit that originates, directly or indirectly, from

(a) a foreign government or foreign state-owned entity,

(b) a corporation incorporated outside Canada,

(c) a foundation, trust or non-governmental organization formed outside Canada, or

(d) an individual who is neither a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident of Canada;

"government body" has the same meaning as in the Financial Administration Act;

"provincial public funding" means money provided directly or indirectly by

(a) the government,

(b) a Crown corporation, or

(c) a government agency, board or commission;

"public office holder" has the same meaning as in the Lobbyists Transparency Act;

"total compensation" means salary, wages, bonuses, benefits, allowances and any other form of remuneration.

Application

2 This Act applies to every advocacy organization that, in a fiscal year, receives funding in the amount of $10 000 or more in total from any of the following sources:

(a) provincial public funding;

(b) federal public funding;

(c) foreign funding.

Part 2 – Disclosure Requirements

Annual disclosure reports

3 (1) An advocacy organization must, within 60 days after the completion of every fiscal year, prepare and make publicly available an annual disclosure report containing the following information:

(a) the organization's financial statements for the fiscal year;

(b) the total amount of provincial public funding received by the organization during the fiscal year;

(c) the total amount of federal public funding received by the organization during the fiscal year;

(d) the total amount of foreign funding received by the organization during the fiscal year and, for each source of foreign funding,

(i) the name of the source,

(ii) the country of origin, and

(iii) the amount received;

(e) the total compensation paid by the organization during the fiscal year to

(i) each individual whose total compensation from the organization for the fiscal year exceeds $100 000, and

(ii) the five individuals who received the highest total compensation from the organization during the fiscal year.

(2) A disclosure report required under subsection (1) must

(a) be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and

(b) be made publicly available in the prescribed form and manner.

Part 3 – Public Transparency Notices

Requirement to display notice – provincial public funding

4 (1) An advocacy organization that has received provincial public funding at any time during the five previous fiscal years must display prominently on its website, and on any social media page maintained by or on behalf of the advocacy organization, a notice that includes the following statement:

"THIS ORGANIZATION HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA."

(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) must include a hyperlink that connects the reader to the annual disclosure reports relating to the five previous fiscal years that the advocacy organization is required to maintain under section 7.

Requirement to display notice – federal public funding

5 (1) An advocacy organization that has received federal public funding at any time during the five previous fiscal years must display prominently on its website, and on any social media page maintained by or on behalf of the advocacy organization, a notice that includes the following statement:

"THIS ORGANIZATION HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA."

(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) must include a hyperlink that connects the reader to the annual disclosure reports relating to the five previous fiscal years that the advocacy organization is required to maintain under section 7.

Requirement to display notice – foreign funding

6 (1) An advocacy organization that has received foreign funding at any time during the five previous fiscal years must display prominently on its website, and on any social media page maintained by or on behalf of the advocacy organization, a notice that includes the following statement:

"THIS ORGANIZATION HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM FOREIGN SOURCES."

(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) must include a hyperlink that connects the reader to the annual disclosure reports relating to the five previous fiscal years that the advocacy organization is required to maintain under section 7.

Duty to maintain publicly accessible information

7 (1) Every advocacy organization must maintain its annual disclosure reports for the five previous fiscal years on a publicly accessible website.

(2) The information required to be maintained under subsection (1) must be accessible without charge.

Part 4 – Organizational Transparency

Disclosure of affiliates

8 (1) An advocacy organization must disclose on its website

(a) the legal name and every business name of the organization,

(b) the legal name and every business name of each affiliate of the organization, and

(c) the jurisdiction in which the organization and each of its affiliates was incorporated or formed.

(2) For each affiliate in respect of which information is disclosed under subsection (1), the advocacy organization must also disclose on its website the nature of the relationship between the organization and the affiliate, including whether the affiliate

(a) controls the organization,

(b) is controlled by the organization, or

(c) is controlled by the same person or entity that controls the organization.

(3) An advocacy organization must update the information required to be disclosed under this section within 30 days after any change in that information.

Part 5 – Citizen Enforcement and Whistleblower Rewards

Application to court

9 (1) Subject to section 10 (1), any Canadian citizen who is a resident of British Columbia may apply to the court for a determination that an advocacy organization has contravened this Act.

(2) An application under subsection (1) may seek, and the court may issue, one or more of the following:

(a) a declaration that the advocacy organization has contravened this Act;

(b) an order requiring the advocacy organization to comply with this Act;

(c) an order requiring the advocacy organization to pay a penalty under section 13.

Notice to Attorney General

10 (1) No person may make an application under section 9 unless the applicant has provided at least 30 days' written notice to the Attorney General of the alleged contravention of the Act.

(2) The Attorney General may intervene in any proceeding that is commenced by an application under section 9.

Payment of award to applicant

11 (1) Subject to subsection (2), if an advocacy organization is ordered to pay a penalty under section 13, the court may award the applicant an amount equal to up to 30 per cent of the amount of the penalty if the applicant provided information that materially contributed to the determination that the organization contravened the Act.

(2) The court must not award an amount to an applicant under subsection (1) if the proceeding in question was initiated by the applicant in coordination or collusion with the advocacy organization that has been ordered to pay a penalty.

Part 6 – Penalties

Contravention by director, officer or agent

12 If an advocacy organization contravenes this Act, a director, officer or agent of the organization who knowingly authorized, permitted or acquiesced in the contravention is deemed to have also contravened this Act.

Court order to pay penalty

13 (1) If the court determines that an advocacy organization has contravened this Act by failing to make a disclosure of funding that is required under section 3, the court may order the organization to pay into court

(a) an amount equal to the value of any funding that was not disclosed, and

(b) an additional amount not exceeding $10 000 000.

(2) In addition to any penalty imposed on an advocacy organization under subsection (1), the court may order a director, officer or agent described in section 12 to pay into court an amount not exceeding $750 000.

Offence Act

14 Section 5 of the Offence Act does not apply to this Act.

Part 7 – Funding Ineligibility

Ineligibility to receive provincial public funding

15 If a court determines that an advocacy organization has contravened this Act, the organization is not eligible to receive provincial public funding until all orders made by the court in respect of the contravention have been complied with.

Part 8 – Regulations

Regulations

16 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) respecting the form and manner of disclosure reports required under this Act,

(b) prescribing issues and categories of issues for the purposes of the definition of "advocacy organization",

(c) respecting the calculation of provincial public funding, federal public funding or foreign funding,

(d) providing for penalties for contraventions of provisions of this Act,

(e) respecting any transitional matters necessary to implement this Act, and

(f) respecting any other matter necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Part 9 – Commencement

Commencement

17 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Explanatory Note

This Bill

• requires an advocacy organization that receives funding in the amount of $10 000 or more during a fiscal year from provincial public funding, federal public funding and foreign funding to make publicly available an annual report disclosing the amount and sources of the funding that it received during that fiscal year,
• requires an advocacy organization that has received provincial public funding, federal public funding or foreign funding during the five previous fiscal years to display prominently on its website, and on any social media page maintained by or on behalf of the organization, the fact that it has received such funding,
• requires an advocacy organization to continually disclose on its website information about the legal and business names of the organization and its affiliates and the jurisdiction in which the organization and each of its affiliates was incorporated or formed,
• provides that any Canadian citizen who is a resident of British Columbia may apply to the court for a determination that an advocacy organization operating in British Columbia has contravened this Act,
• provides that the court may impose monetary penalties on an advocacy organization operating in British Columbia that has contravened this Act, and on any director, officer or agent of the organization who knowingly authorized, permitted or acquiesced in the contravention, and
• provides that an advocacy organization that has contravened this Act is not eligible to receive further provincial public funding until all orders made by the court in respect of the contravention have been complied with.