Nonprofit Lobbying Rights

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Frist Open To Senate Vote On '527' Groups

Jul 26, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From Congress Daily : Senate Majority Leader Frist is open to forcing a Senate vote on regulating so-called 527 campaign groups before the House and Senate vote on an underlying package of lobbying and ethics reforms, according to GOP senators and congressional aides.

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Interesting Logic Puzzle Article

Jul 17, 2006 by Guest Blogger

More on the Logic Puzzle from Chronicle on Philanthropy. Mr. Greene hopes that the coalition's efforts will persuade lawmakers that online activism offers them "a bonanza of data." He says that legislators can use the names and e-mail addresses that constituents provide to set up a two-way conversation. "It's not just, then, constituents who are hitting their members with all these messages," says Mr. Greene. "Members are able to communicate back to their constituents and say, 'Here's what's happening. Here's where I stand on this. I'd like to hear more from you.'"

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Grassley Specifies Nonprofit Issues in Need of Legislative Reform

Jul 12, 2006 by Guest Blogger

In a letter to the Hill newspaper, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) identifies the issues he sees most pertinent in nonprofit reform. These are:

Excessive compensation perks, pay and sweetheart deals involving officers and directors.
Nonprofit groups that act more like for-profit businesses than charities.
Inappropriate political activity.
Lack of financial transparency and accountability to donors.
Nonprofit hospitals that do not provide adequate charity care and community benefits.
Tax-exempt organizations fronting as tax-shelters.

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Whither Lobby Reform?

Jul 12, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Two stories on lobby reform in the news today: A story in BNA (subscription required) saying that despite all the scandals surrounding Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham, expenditures on lobbying broke new records in 2005.

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Op-Ed on Logic Puzzle

Jul 11, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Read an op-ed on the logic puzzle by Get Active CTO Bill Pease.

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CREW Files Another Complaint Against ATR

Jul 5, 2006 by Guest Blogger

According to BNA: Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington has filed another complaint with the IRS on the actions of Americans for Tax Reform on the heels of the Senate Indian Affairs committee report we told you about here.

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Grassley Puts Charitable Reforms In Catch-All Tax Bill

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday approved a number of charitable reforms. The reforms, which were unexpectedly rolled into a tax-adminstration bill via Sen. Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) manager's amendment, includes increased excise taxes, requiring electronic filing of Form 990, and a requirement that non-profits that currently do not file tax returns at all to provide the IRS with general information every three years. Grassley issued a press release on the bill on Wednesday. He talked about the broad probe he has been conducting at abuses by tax-exempt groups. The press release says:

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Roll Call Says Oversight Needed

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From Roll Call: The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has set a standard for what Congressional oversight should be, but often isn’t, with its investigation of the fleecing of American Indian tribes by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Now, it’s time for the Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees to follow up with probes of his, and others’, misuse of tax-exempt foundations.

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Lobby Reform Update

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

According to BNA: While House leaders held out hope June 27 that lawmakers could send President Bush a lobbying and ethics reform conference report in the next three days, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said consideration of the measure would extend into July Also of interest is a letter, sent by Sens. Charles Grassley, James Inhofe, and Ron Wyden, and signed by 29 Senators, urging conferees to keep in language that ends the practice of secret holds in the Senate. The letter says:

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China Audits Nonprofit Organizations

Jun 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the The San Francisco Chronicle : Chinese officials have been auditing nonprofit groups in what critics say is an effort to intimidate and disrupt their work. The director of one environmental group, Green Watershed, told the Chronicle that the organization has “experienced investigations through almost the whole of last year.” The group has received grants from the Ford Foundation and other large U.S. donors, the paper reports.

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