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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

FEC Proposes Draft Rules on Internet Electioneering

Mar 24, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The FEC today proposed draft rules to govern online election-related communications that would provide individual Web logs, or blogs, with a substantial exemption from campaign finance disclosure laws. Most of the reporting requirements would instead fall upon campaigns and candidates who pay for Web advertising, National Journal's Technology Daily reported. But commission members sparred over how narrow the rules should be. "We are not the speech police," said Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. "This issue has nothing to do with private citizens on the Internet.

read in full

Sense of Senate RE: CARE Act passed by UC

Mar 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

This was passed last week by Unanimous Consent in the Senate. SA 163. Mr. SANTORUM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 18, setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2006 and including the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2005 and 2007 through 2010; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the end of title V, insert the following: SEC. __. SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING TAX RELIEF TO ENCOURAGE CHARITABLE GIVING. (a) Findings.--The Senate finds that--

read in full

IS' Nonprofit Panel to Hold Field Mtg in San Diego

Mar 23, 2005 by Guest Blogger

On Sunday, April 10, 2005 at 4:00 pm PST, the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector will hold a Field Meeting at the Council's 56th Annual Conference in San Diego, California. One of a dozen such meetings being held across the country, the San Diego Field Meeting will allow members of the Panel to hear comments and suggestions from the nonprofit community. The meeting is open to conference attendees and the general public.

read in full

Miami Church Says Probe Politically Motivated

Mar 22, 2005 by Guest Blogger

From CQ Mid-day Update: "A Florida church is discovering that life in a political battleground state sometimes means new fights arise even after an election recedes into memory. The IRS has notified Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Liberty City that it is being investigated for holding "political activities that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status as a church,"

read in full

Summary of Senate Hearing on 527s

On March 8, 2005 the Senate Rules Committee held a hearing to consider the 527 Reform Act of 2005 (S. 271). While not heavily attended by committee members, the hearing revealed the complexity of issues raised by the proposed extension of federal election regulations to independent political committees (527s). The testimony and questions from Senators highlighted the likely consequences of passing the bill in its current form, including migration of soft money to 501(c) groups, who, unlike 527s, do not disclose donors.

read in full

IRS Asking Justice Department to Step in on NAACP Audit

The Internal Revenue Service is referring to the Justice Department the refusal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to respond to an IRS summons, according to BNA. The case arose in the fall of 2004 when the IRS notified the NAACP it was conducting an examination into whether a speech by Chairman Julian Bond that criticized policies of President Bush constituted prohibited campaign intervention.

read in full

Study Shows Business Outspends Nonprofits 5-1 on Issue Ads

The Annenberg Public Policy Center has published new research examining legislative issue ads, focusing on the Washington, DC, area during the 108th Congress. They found "Corporate interests outspent citizen/cause interests by more than five to one," and that advertising on many issues was one-sided. Not surprisingly, the side that spent more was more likely to have a favorable outcome.

read in full

Bush Budget Fails to Support Non-itemizer Deduction

The Bush Administration has indicated that it will no longer push for passage of the non-itemizer deduction, even as a new study shows the provision would increase charitable giving. However, the non-itemizer provision remains a centerpiece of legislation introduced by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and a priority for Republican leadership.

read in full

Court Says AmeriCorps Teachers in Catholic Schools Allowed to Receive Subsidies

On March 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that taxpayer funds can subsidize volunteer instructors that teach in religious schools. The ruling reversed a July 2, 2004 decision by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who admonished the government for failing to monitor programs sufficiently to ensure compliance with the law and called the line between secular and religious activities "completely blurred." The American Jewish Congress (AJC) may appeal the decision.

read in full

OMB Rejects Findings on Propaganda Using Federal Funds

On Feb. 17, David M. Walker, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Comptroller General, issued a letter to all federal agencies reminding them that Congress banned use of federal funds for propaganda, and during 2004 “several prepackaged news stories produced and distributed by certain government agencies violated this prohibition.” On March 11, the Bush administration rejected these findings by sending a contradictory memo to agency heads.

read in full