A controversial bill ending state tax exemptions for the Boy Scouts of America failed to attract the necessary votes to win passage in the Assembly before this year’s legislative session ends today.

The bill, written by state Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, would have ended exemptions on corporate taxes on donations or other income.

The legislation, Senate Bill 323, was sent to the inactive file Thursday, meaning it can be revived next year. Because it was a tax-related measure, the legislation required a two-thirds “supermajority” of the Assembly. Democrats are one member short of that threshold.

Lara was defiant in a statement released by his office.

“Let me be very clear, SB 323 is alive and well,” Lara said. “As this is the first year to a two year legislative session, we will be taking the next few months to work closely with all parties involved to address and refine this legislation. As session reconvenes in January, the passage of this bill and fighting against the discrimination of California’s LGBT community continues to be of paramount importance.”

Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said the group is pleased that the legislation isn’t moving forward.

“More than ever, California’s youth need Scouting and we are focused on the goals that unite us,” Smith said. “Scouting remains undeterred in its belief that together we can accomplish incredible things for the youth we serve.”

Known as the Youth Equality Act, the law also names organizations such as Little League, Girl Scouts, Young Men’s Christian Association, 4-H Clubs, Special Olympics Inc., American Youth Soccer Organization and Pop Warner football, but Lara has said the law is intended to act as an umbrella against discrimination and is not necessarily targeted at groups other than the Boys Scouts.

Little League Baseball has a policy that forbids discrimination against any person on the basis of race, creed, color, national original, marital status, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America has its own inclusion rules that say the group does not “discriminate or recruit on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, national origin, or physical or developmental disability.”

SB 323 was sponsored by Equality California. The bill was written last winter, before the Boy Scouts of America voted earlier this year to allow gay youths but not adults. Lara said afterward that the Scouts’ action was not sufficient.

The law was opposed by the Calvary Assembly of God, Capitol Resource Institute, First Christian Church, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Traditional Values Coalition and Pacific Justice Institute, among others.

Matt McReynolds, assistant counsel at the Pacific Justice Institute, said that his group saw a number of Democratic legislators who approached SB 323 with hesitancy.

“It pushed further than gay rights measures have gone in the past by trying to penalize people who disagreed with them,” said McReynolds. “Wielding the tax power as a weapon against your enemies is, fortunately, still something that gives a number of legislators pause.”

A State Board of Equalization analysis estimated that if the Boy Scouts of America was not granted the tax breaks targeted by Lara’s bill, state and local taxes could increase by about $250,000 in each of the next three fiscal years.

The law’s co-authors include numerous Southern California Assembly members: Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach; Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica; Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles; Cristina Garcia, D-Artesia; Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, and Holly Mitchell, D-Culver City.

Eric Bradley can be reached at 562-499-1254