Nonprofit Speech 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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Pressure to Pass Lobby Reform Grows

No one is certain when Congress will leave for its summer recess. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said the Senate will recess only when it has passed several high profile bills, including lobby reform. Progress on this legislation has stalled because Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has used parliamentary procedure to stop Reid from appointing the Senate conferees. One solution to the problem may be that the House and Senate pass identical bills to avoid a conference. However, reform groups have raised concerns about this process, since it may result in weakened legislation.

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FEC Will Draft Rule Allowing Issue Advocacy Broadcasts

Following the June U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Election Commission vs. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., which found the federal electioneering communications ban unconstitutional when applied to genuine issue ads, there has been a fast-paced effort to tie up loose ends in related cases and set the stage for the 2008 election. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced that it will issue a proposed rule in August to incorporate the decision into its regulations. In two related court cases, the FEC conceded that certain ads in question were genuine issue ads, including one that was critical of a senator's position on a bill. The "electioneering communications" provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) prohibits corporations, including nonprofits, from paying for broadcasts that refer to a candidate for federal office within 30 days of a primary and 60 days of a general election.

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Ethics & Lobbying: Novak Op-Ed in a (Time) Warp

Jul 23, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Bob Novak writes in today's Washington Post that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), is "plotting to strip anti-earmark transparency from the final version of ethics legislation passed by the Senate and House." While Novak does not identify -- and it is impossible to guess -- what earmark provision he has in mind, he nevertheless chastizes Reid, warning that frayed Senate relations "may get worse if plans to eviscerate ethics legislation are pursued."

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How Timely: James Madison Center Petition for FEC Rulemaking

Jul 20, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Election Commission's (FEC) rulemaking announcement followed a statement that attorney James Bopp, who represented Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL), filed a petition with the FEC for a rulemaking on behalf of the James Madison Center for Free Speech. The petition asks that the FEC apply the Court's decision in the WRTL case, that the prohibition on "electioneering communications" cannot be constitutionally applied to genuine issue ads. The petition suggests that the rulemaking should be done by directly taking language from the Court's majority opinion.

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Lobbying and Ethics -- a Conference-Free Zone?

Jul 19, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Congressional Democratic leadership, no doubt exasperated over GOP holds blocking the lobbying and ethics bill from going to conference -- months after overwhelming passage by both houses -- now apparently plans to circumvent the bill's conference process entirely. Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): "I've done everything but get on my knees and beg for [a conference]."

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FEC to Issue Rulemaking

Jul 19, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced that it will work on a rulemaking given the Supreme Court decision in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC. The Court found that the ads in question were genuine issue ads, as opposed to electioneering ads that advocated for the election or defeat of candidates. The FEC plans to issue a proposed regulation in August and request comments with a public hearing in October, and a vote on a final rule by the end of November. If this timeline is kept, a rule will be set for the primaries in early 2008.

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Many Hurdles Lay Ahead for Ethics and Lobbying Reform

Jul 19, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

After much frustration in trying to send the ethics and lobbying reform legislation to conference committee, RollCall ($$) reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have decided to abandon the normal conference committee process and will use a parliamentary tactic rarely used to push the legislation. According to the article, the plan would be that the House and Senate votes on identical language without amendments attached to circumvent the conference process.

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DeMint Putting Senate's Summer Vacation on "Hold"?

Jul 17, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is apparently single-handedly holding up the Senate's lobbying and ethics reform bill with a hold keeping it from going to conference over a pet provision that he wants guaranteed will be included in the conference committee's final version.

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DeMint Standoff Remains

Jul 17, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

According to CongressDaily ($$), Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) will continue to block a conference on lobbying and ethics reform until he receives a guarantee that his earmark disclosure language will not be changed during conference committee. This promise remains despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) offer to put him on the conference committee. "The majority leader is trying to be clever, but I wasn't born yesterday," DeMint said. "Everybody knows Democrats are going to control the conference, 4 to 3, and they will vote 4 to 3 to kill earmark reform.

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WRTL Acts On Supreme Court Decision

Jul 17, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

From BNA Money and Politics ($$); After the Supreme Court ruling in the Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) case, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and members of Congress who intervened in the case came to an agreement late last week with WRTL attorney James Bopp. The agreement details the features of political ads sponsored by corporations and unions that all sides specify as permissible in future campaigns. Nevertheless, legal challenges to restrictions on ads may continue to be reviewed by the courts on a case-by-case basis.

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