A bill that has passed both the Senate and the House is facing staunch opposition from members of the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. The partisan proposal would eliminate the tax-exempt designation for real and personal property owned by the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. and others, and eliminate state recordation taxes for the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
In a letter to legislators, the trust noted that it “strongly opposes House Bill 1699 and believes the bill was created out of malice and organizations named were manufactured viewpoint discrimination, as the JEB Stuart Preservation, Inc. offers free admission to a 70+ acre park open 365 days per year with hiking trails, a wide selection of historical value dating before the Revolutionary War including Native American artifacts, and the rail line from the dinky railroad era, community involvement & free meal, and to Patrick County and the great state of Virginia with contributions to tourism. Furthermore, the Board members of the JEB Stuart Preservation Trust, Inc. are on a volunteer-only basis to ensure all donations are used to increase personal enrichment, education, and health and wellness.
“HB1699 is constructing and fabricating misinformation to named groups within the bill simply upon the name of the organization and can be argued as viewpoint discrimination. In 1995 Virginia Supreme Court held viewpoint discrimination as an egregious free speech violation,” the local preservation group wrote.
The trust referenced the 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case, Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995), in which held that “when the government targets not subject matter but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination. The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction.”
HB1699 “is viewpoint discrimination considering our own and other organizations given protection under Article X, Section 6 (a)(6) of the Constitution of Virginia and further under Sections 58.1-3607 and 58.1-3651. JEB Stuart Preservation Trust, Inc. is tax-exempt under the Virginia constitution as “property used by its owner for religious, charitable, patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural, or public park and playground purposes” (Article X, Section 6 (a)6),” the trust wrote in a social media post.
It added, “The JEB Stuart Preservation Trust, Inc. strongly opposes House Bill 1699 for these reasons and demands to continue the current federal and state tax exemption for our non-profit organization.”
Trust President Ronnie Haynes said this is essentially the same bill that was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year. The group hopes Youngkin will veto the bill again this year.
“It’s a very unfair bill targeting several organizations that may have a Confederate theme to them. Other organizations have the same tax-exempt status and then we’re just being unfairly targeted,” he said.
Haynes said he read that Alex Askew, the bill’s sponsor, claimed he wasn’t trying to hinder the Trust’s and other organizations’ rights to exist. However, he believes the bill speaks for itself.
“It seems to me that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. They deem us unworthy and should not be entitled to the same considerations that other historical organizations are. That’s just totally unfair and unjust,” Haynes said and added that the Trust provides a service to the county and the community.
“We’re a non-profit. We get no government funding whatsoever, and we exist on donations from our members, fundraisers, etcetera. Any incentive we can get that could save us just we put back into the site for the public,” Haynes said.
Members of the JEB Stuart Preservation Trust’s board are encouraging others to support the community park by voicing opposition against the bill.
Express your opinion via an online form at https://www.governor.virginia.gov/communicating-with-the-governors-office/, call (804) 786-2211, email glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov or via regular mail at Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 1475, Richmond, VA 23218.
