Please report any issues your group has experienced, or is still experiencing, with getting a permit to hold your event.
You have a constitutional right to peacefully assemble. If your right to peacefully assemble has been infringed, it is very important to document what happened. This should include the name(s) and contact information of any city or county official who is denying your group its constitutional right to peacefully assemble.
Please report what happened in this format: (look for the "edit" button at the top of this screen, click it, position your cursor where you want your report to appear, and start typing...click "save" when done.)
- City/State (Location of your Tea Party
- Name of official(s) who is denying permit:
- Reason given:
- Contact information for official:
- Any relevant details:
You should not need a permit or insurance for a First Amendment event
Consider letting local officials know that you individually intend to engage in your First Amendment to the United
Stated Constitution right to freedom of assembly. You are not part of any formal organization but intend to invite like minded members of the public to join you. While government can regulate the time, manner and place of assembly to some extent, government cannot act in a manner seeking to prevent your protest and cannot discriminate against your protest based on content. You will comply with reasonable restrictions to clean up litter and refrain from blocking access, but you have no budget or funds to secure any insurance and cannot be responsible for the behavior of others.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/Assembly/faqs.aspx
Have there been any anti-war protests in your area? Ask to see their permits and the conditions imposed. Did local officials require insurance in those cases?
Comments (4)
Phil Ammar said
at 3:47 pm on Mar 31, 2009
Hi Roxanne, I'm not an organizer of the Cleveland tax day TP but am working with them due to my associated with the Cleveland Tea Party group and we had a slight issue getting a permit. We were being charged the rate charged to "for-profit" events, and not the much lower rate for non-profit events ($500 vs $50). Its believe its been paid already so its a moot point now, but I had some questions about what to do for the next tea party and the ones after that. This may be city specific, but does a group have to have 501(c)(3) tax status to qualify for nonprofit pricing, or is it just based on whatever the city officials deign to charge a group? If anybody has any info on this it would be greatly appreciated.
Randy Keller said
at 4:08 pm on Mar 31, 2009
Here's what we're doing in Bowling Green KY. Check with you local city/state for applicability. Not for Profit (501)(c) creation takes about six months and costs about $1,000.00. Check with legal zoom. It is a three part process. Part one can be done in 7-10 days. Our specific issue was how to deal with donations while awaiting the process. We are creating a club with the purpose and intent of education. Our club is acting as our interim agency for the collection of dues and donations. Chartered into our club is the intent of creating a 501c. When the process is complete, we can then take the deductions available. You just have to pay as you go and keep good records to declare them upon creation of the 501c.
Randy Keller
Bowling Green Tea Party
nathanredondo said
at 8:27 pm on Apr 4, 2009
Hi Roxanne,
I was hit with similar permit conditions for our protest- no petitioning is to be allowed (with a very broad definition applied) and no merchandise is to be handed out. I'm finding creative ways around this...the reality of it is, none of these rules were enforced during the anti-war protests a few years ago. We shouldn't be held to a higher standard of enforcement for being law abiding.
Sam Mela said
at 12:03 pm on Apr 5, 2009
Nathan,
I find it odd that no petitioning is allowed, since the first amendment specifically guarantees the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".
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