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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Amid Reform Frenzy, Senate Democrats Introduce Lobby Reform Bill

Since the guilty plea by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Congress has been hurriedly preparing lobby and ethics reform legislation. Republicans announced their ideas at a Jan. 17 press conference that seemed mostly designed to pre-empt the unveiling of Democrats plan on Jan. 18. The Senate Democrats followed their press event with the introduction of a comprehensive bill authored by Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). In our view, the Reid bill is a solid beginning, but falls short of adequately addressing the culture of corruption that surrounds Washington politics today. To follow is an analysis of the Reid bill and its impact on lobbying generally and nonprofit lobbying specifically.

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GOP Considers Ban on Privately Funded Travel

Jan 12, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Check out this New York Times article on the possible banning of privately funded travel. This could have impacts for nonprofits, which we discuss more extensively in our Watcher article on the new lobby reform bills before Congress.

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Online Information on Lobbying, Ethics Reform Bills in Congress

Jan 11, 2006 by Kay Guinane

Bob Bauer's blog (More Soft Money HardLaw) has a very useful resource page with links to the pending lobby and ethics reform bills in Congress, and related Congressional floor statements and press releases. To access this resource page click here

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House Democrats Put Forth Reform Package

Jan 6, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

House Democrats David Obey (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), David Price (D-NC), and Tom Allen (D-ME) have produced a 14-point package to reform House rules. The package is cosponsored by 120 House Democrats, including Minority Leader Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Whip Hoyer (D-MD).

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What Kind of Impact Will the New McCain Lobbying Bill Have on Charities?

Dec 18, 2005 by Guest Blogger

We had heard that Sens. McCain and Feingold, with Reps. Meehan and Shays, intended to introduce new legislation to increase regulations on lobbying. On Friday, McCain and Shays, sans Meehan and Feingold, announced thier intention to introduce lobbying reform legislation, the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act of 2005. Reportedly, Meehan and Feingold were not present because they don't think the GOP bill goes far enough to regulate lawmakers.

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Links to Articles About Defense Dept. Spying on Organizations

Dec 15, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Washington Post's Early Warning Blog See the video at MSNBV Palm Beach Post article

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LSC Restrictions In The New York Times

Dec 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The pages of The New York Times reflected growing concern about the harms caused by LSC’s physical separation requirement twice this week, once in an editorial (“Separate and Inequitable”) and again in a letter to the editor (“Hobbling Nonprofits”). On December 5, 2005, the editorial page wrote, "The fact that Washington provides money for legal representation does not give it unlimited authority to control what lawyers say or do, or to restrict the use of private money so severely." In a letter to the editor in response to the editorial, Rev. Dr.

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Faith Based Groups Join Campaign To End LSC's Private Money Restriction

Dec 3, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Recently, 31 leading faith-based groups joined the campaign to end the Legal Services Corporation's private money restriction, a federal rule that each year deprives thousands of low-income individuals and families of legal help in critical civil cases. In a letter to Congressmen Wolf and Mollohan, the religious groups wrote, “We are deeply concerned that this [provision] hurts the families we serve, imposes unnecessary costs, and sets a dangerous precedent for public-private partnerships.

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ACLU Files Suit in "Denver Three" Case

Nov 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A lawsuit filed yesterday by the ACLU was filed on behalf of Leslie Weise and Alex Young, who gained national attention after being removed from a March 21 event with President Bush. The presidential visit was open to the public and advertised as a town hall "conversation" on Social Security reform. But the ACLU lawsuit charges that Weise and Young, who had obtained tickets from the office of Representative Bob Beauprez and had caused no disruption at the town hall, were removed from the event solely because of their perceived political views.

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FEC Exempts Blogs From Regulation Through Press Exemption

Nov 18, 2005 by Guest Blogger

From BNA: In a move hailed as freeing the Internet from regulation, the Federal Election Commission ruled Nov. 17 that a company operating "unabashedly progressive" blogs is eligible for the "press exemption" from campaign finance limits.

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