Publications
Inheritance Tax Renewal to Be Part of "Fiscal Cliff" Discussions
Sep 11, 2012
With the federal budget on the precipice of a "fiscal cliff" of pending budget cuts and tax increases that could take place starting Jan. 2 and tip the economy into recession, many budget watchers are waiting on the outcome of this year's elections to determine how to proceed. One issue up for discussion is the renewal of the inheritance tax (also known as the estate tax).
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Chevron Refinery Fire Highlights Need for Better Risk Management, Safer Chemical Alternatives
Sep 11, 2012
In August, a major fire at a Chevron oil refinery in California sent thousands of people to hospitals and forced local residents to hide in their homes with their doors and windows shut. The fire, which sent clouds of black smoke over the San Francisco Bay area, highlights the risks that refineries and chemical plants can pose to local communities and the need for ready access to information that residents can use to protect themselves and their families from chemical disasters.
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Highlighting the Benefits in Cost-Benefit Analysis
Sep 10, 2012
Over the past several years, the conversation about regulatory protections that safeguard the environment, worker safety, and the health and welfare of American families has focused almost exclusively on the monetary costs to affected businesses rather than on the benefits they provide to everyday citizens. Conservatives repeat false or exaggerated cost estimates and overblown anti-regulatory rhetoric. And too often, news articles fail to report on the benefits of the standards and safeguards they are criticizing, making for a very one-sided public discussion.
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Technology Reforms Pave the Way for Greater Transparency
Sep 10, 2012
The federal government recently unveiled a number of valuable reforms that will pave the way to a more transparent, efficient, and innovative government. The reforms implement and complement the Digital Government Strategy released by the Obama administration in May.
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Sponsors of the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act Try to Slip Bill in Under the Radar
Sep 5, 2012
The Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act (S. 3468), introduced on Aug. 1 by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Susan Collins (R-ME), may appear to be just another item in the string of anti-regulatory legislation considered, but not enacted, by the 112th Congress. Unfortunately, because it boasts both Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, it appears to be heading straight to mark-up within the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC).
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California Suspends Open Meetings Law to Save Money
Aug 14, 2012
In June, the California state legislature suspended the state's open meetings law, which requires cities and other agencies to publish the agendas of public meetings before they occur and make the minutes of these meetings available to citizens after they occur. In suspending the law, the state is sacrificing not only a fundamental element of a democratic society, but a vital tool that can actually save money.
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Automatic Defense Cuts No Threat to National Security
Aug 14, 2012
Unless Congress acts to undo the $110 billion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to take effect early next year, most federal programs will be cut by about eight percent. These cuts are the unfortunate product of crisis budgeting and will have deleterious impacts on many Americans, but harm to national defense won't be one of them.
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The STOCK Act Faces New Hurdles
Aug 14, 2012
On Aug. 2, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit and an injunction against the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), challenging the constitutionality of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act). The ACLU is suing on behalf of seven high-level federal government employees and four organizations representing them. The ACLU claims that posting officials’ financial information online violates their privacy in addition to potentially threatening their physical safety. On the basis of similar concerns, Congress passed a bill delaying implementation of the STOCK Act.
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Vote Imminent on House Bill that Would Shut Down Safeguards
Jul 24, 2012
The House will vote later this week on the misleadingly titled "Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act." The bill is a brazen attempt to shut down the system of public safeguards that protects our air, water, food, consumer products, and economy and would do nothing to create jobs.
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Local Officials Standing Up to Protect Their Communities from Fracking
Jul 24, 2012
Local officials from more than 200 municipalities in 15 states, including city councils, town boards, and county legislatures, have banned natural gas drilling that uses hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking. These officials have decided that fracking poses an unacceptable risk to the drinking water, health, and future of their communities. However, state governments and corporations have started legally challenging these efforts, a move that would strip the power of democratically elected local governments to establish quality-of-life protections their constituencies want.
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