According to Tax Analyst (via http://www.pgdc.com/usa/print_item/?itemID=310718">PDGC): The minority chief tax counsel for the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House said Congressional backing for sweeping changes in regulating governance of charities had shrunk in the wake of efforts by the nonprofit sector to acknowledge charitable abuse, to show it was not widespread, and to offer solutions.

From Congress Daily(subscription required): BANKING: The House Ways and Means Committee hears testimony Thursday on the tax-exempt status of credit unions, part of an examination of the tax-exempt sector Ways and Means Chairman Thomas launched last year. The credit union tax exemption has been in place for nearly 70 years. The industry argues it should remain tax-exempt because credit unions, which have 87 million members nationwide, are not-for-profit cooperatives generally run by volunteers, and they return their earnings to their members.

Notice From the Brennan Center for Justice: *ANNOUNCEMENT* Oral argument in Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation will take place before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on November 2, 2005 at 10:00 AM. The central issue will be whether the trial court was correct to issue a preliminary injunction barring LSC from enforcing its physical separation requirement against three New York City-based legal services programs. All are welcome to attend the argument, which will be held in lower Manhattan at the U.S. Courthouse, 40 Centre St., Room 1705.

With Hurricane Katrina demonstrating anew the need for an effective and reliable network of private, nonprofit organizations to help meet urgent national problems, and recent calls for increased regulation of nonprofit organizations from the Senate Finance Committee and others, a new report from the Johns Hopkins University's Nonprofit Listening Post Project offers the first up-to-date information on the actual governance and accountability practices of U.S. nonprofit organizations.