Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Charitable Institution Disclosure Obligations

The ONLY laws I know of that require disclosure of salaries and other compensation are those applying to the top officers of publicly-traded companies like Pfizer and Deere.

California has a few laws applying specially to nonprofit officers and directors where it is a factor whether they are compensated or not. See Corporations Code section 5047.5 and Code of Civil Procedure section 425.15, for example; they deal with an exemption from personal liability for uncompensated officers and directors, and I suppose to take advantage of the exemption, such officers and directors would have to testify whether or not they were compensated - but this does not get into how much they are compensated; it is a yes-or-no matter, not a "how much?" question. Further, invoking the immunity is their option, not a requirement.

Finally, I know that the California Attorney General has some powers to investigate charities in general, and this power must be based on law; whether these powers are broad enough to require reporting of officer salaries of churches and synagogues, I do not know, and I could not locate the law. Even if the AG has the power to obtain this information routinely, it may be confidential and not something where public disclosure is required or even possible.