California Family Council (CFC) is a right-of-center advocacy group focused on religious liberty and pro-family policies. ¹

Activities

California Family Council tracks proposed California state legislation. It has supported bills that would include human trafficking in the definition of a violent or serious felony, prohibit individuals from sleeping or storing personal property within 1000 feet of sensitive locations such as schools, and reducing the threshold for charging the crimes of shoplifting and petty theft to $400. It has opposed bills that would decriminalize the use of certain hallucinogenic substances, provide support for educators to encourage students’ sexual orientations and gender identities, and prohibit California courts from assisting in the out-of-state prosecution of certain abortion and gender-reassignment procedures. ²

California Family Council opposes both assisted suicide and euthanasia and supports federal district court Judge Vince Chhabria’s June 22, 2022 decision, which rejected the legalization of euthanasia in California by extending the state’s existing assisted suicide law. CFC claims that assisted suicide and euthanasia are anti-Christian and that euthanasia is equivalent to murder. CFC further claims that euthanasia and assisted suicide undermine the doctor-patient relationship and impede improvements to end-of-life care. ³

In June 2022, the California Family Council, along with other state policy groups, filed an amicus brief in Colorado federal court supporting Christian web designer Lorie Smith’s right to free speech, religious liberty, and freedom of conscience. The brief asserts that Colorado’s nondiscrimination law cannot supersede Smith’s religious liberty by forcing her to create messages endorsing same-sex marriage, which she opposes on conscience grounds. It also argues that the U.S. Supreme Court has distinguished between the constitutional right to marry and any legal obligation for individuals to accept the state’s view on marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. It notes that corporations and other creative professionals continually exercise their rights to conscience under various Supreme Court precedents, and that companies like FaceBook, Twitter, the National Football League, and Disney have all drawn lines as to the messages they are willing to transmit and have leveraged their corporate power to impact policy. ⁴

Funding

The California Family Council is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. While CFC does not disclose other donors, tax filings confirm donations from the California Community Foundation ($50,000 in 2019) ⁵ and the Christian Community Foundation ($6,200 in 2019). ⁶

People

Jonathan Keller is the CEO of the California Family Council and the former executive director of Right to Life of Central California. ⁷

Pastor Dave Sawkins is the chair of the boards of CFC, Sam Earp Ministries, ⁸ and the Values Advocacy Council, ⁹ and the president of DS Ministries. ¹⁰

Brian Pharris is the vice chair of the board and sits on the board of the Family Research Council Action. ¹¹

Kelly Dunagan is the treasurer of the board. ¹²

Phil Kell is the secretary of the board, a trustee of the Gateway Seminary, and the former president of the California Baptist Foundation. ¹³

John Whiffen is the medical director of the National Physicians Center. ¹⁴

1. “About Us.” California Family Council. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.californiafamily.org/about-us/.
2. “Priority Bills 2023.” California Family Council. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.quorum.us/spreadsheet/external/bAYXzTCyFExIblBCkAQL/.
3. “California Judge Dismisses Case Seeking to Legalize Euthanasia.” California Family Council. December 19, 2022. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.californiafamily.org/2022/12/california-judge-dismisses-case-seeking-to-legalize-euthanasia/.
4. “CFC Defends Web-Designer’s Right to Say ‘No’ to Endorsing Same-Sex Weddings.” California Family Council. December 5, 2022. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.californiafamily.org/2022/12/cfc-defends-web-designers-right-to-say-no-to-endorsing-same-sex-weddings/.
5. California Community Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Schedule I, Part II.
6. Christian Community Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Schedule I, Part II
7. “Jonathan Keller.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 14, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanrkeller/.
8. ^[1] Sam Earp Ministries, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990 EZ), 2019, Part IV.
9. DS Ministries Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part III, Line 4a.
10. DS Ministries Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a.
11. Family Research Council Action, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a.
12. “About Us.” California Family Council. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.californiafamily.org/about-us/.
13. “Keynote Speaker – Phil Kell, CEO and President.” Heartwood Church. August 13, 2019. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.heartwoodchurch.com/event/keynote-speaker-phil-kell-ceo-and-president/.
14. ^[1] “John R. Whiffen.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 19, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-r-whiffen-56905b15/.