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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Baucus Supports Grassley's Investigation of Ministries' Spending

Mar 13, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

In November Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) began investigating six evangelistic ministries for the possible illegal use of donations to finance lavish lifestyles. Four of the six have not responded to Grassley's inquiries and now, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) the Senate Finance committee chair has joined the effort. Baucus and Grassley sent letters to the groups with a March 31 deadline urging them to cooperate. Some of the targeted ministries argue that their financial information is private and of no concern to the Senator.

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EAC Inspector General responds to allegations that voter fraud report was improperly handled

Mar 13, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

In December 2006, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission released a report on voter fraud - Election Crimes: An Initial Review and Recommendations for Future Study. The report caused a storm of controversy. Consultants who drafted the report alleged that the EAC had improperly edited the report without their permission. In response, EAC Chair Donetta Davis asked the EAC Inspector General to review the circumstances surrounding the publication of the report. This week, the OIG released its findings in response to Davis's request.

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Nonprofit Seeks Review of "Support or Oppose" Standard

Mar 13, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The Voter Education Committee (VEC), a 527 organization, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case that challenges the constitutionality of Washington state law requiring any organization found to support or oppose a candidate or ballot issue to register as a political committee and have their finances regulated. VEC wants review of a Washington state Supreme Court decision made last year that ruled that VEC should have registered as a political committee and did not find the definition of "political committee" to be constitutionally vague ( Voters Education Committee v.

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List of Known PACI Complaints

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) enforces the ban on partisan activity by charities and religious organizations. On June 8, 2007 the IRS released a report on the initial results of its 2006 program." The results of the enforcement program to date show a continued low level of violations, with the number of 2006 investigations remaining about the same compared to 2004.

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House Approves Outside Ethics Panel

Mar 12, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

With a vote of 229 to 182, the House passed H.Res. 895 to create a new independent panel, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The new body will be able to initiate investigations of possible misconduct. Those who opposed creating the panel charged that it would encourage partisan complaints. After a proposal was pulled from the floor twice recently with clear bipartisan doubts, chairman of the ethics task force Representative Michael Capuano (D-MA) made changes to alleviate some concerns.

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IRS Asked to Investigate Church; Is Church Electioneering Increasing?

Mar 10, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Americans United for Separation of Church and State asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate Grace Community Church, a Houston church whose pastor issued a letter of endorsement for U.S. House of Representatives candidate Shelley Sekula Gibbs. The pastor's endorsement letter identifies himself as senior pastor of Grace Community Church. "I have pastured in the 22nd District for 24 years. It is not often I endorse a candidate for office. I want to know if they represent my values. I have thoroughly discussed the issues of life, marriage and family with Shelley over the years."

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CLC Files Amicus in SpeechNow.org 527 Case

Mar 7, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 have filed a friend of the court brief, charging that the SpeechNow.org lawsuit "is about whether wealthy donors can each contribute hundreds of thousands, or indeed, millions of dollars to sophisticated committees often run by Washington political operatives, closely associated with parties and candidates, in order to finance campaign advocacy . . .

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A Year Has Gone By and Still No Vote on a Change to House Ethics Enforcement

Mar 7, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

A measure to create a new Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), a panel of non-House members that would revise the House ethics process, has been delayed twice in a week. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has told House Democrats to expect a vote next week, but CQ ($$) suggests that such a plan "might be an overly optimistic goal." Many members oppose turning over House ethics investigations to outsiders. Possibly, if there is no vote on the outside ethics panel next week, it could be held until early April.

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Lawmakers take hard look at EAC on Capitol Hill

Mar 7, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Last week, members of the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee held hearings to discuss the state of U.S. election administration, particularly the role of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC was created as a bipartisan commission in 2002 with three primary goals: to develop guidance to meet the requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), to adopt voluntary voting system guidelines, and to serve as a national clearinghouse of information about election administration. It was not intended to be a regulatory agency.

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Some states failing to manage voter lists -- to detriment of voters

Mar 7, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

A recent AP article highlights the issue of state voter lists and the problems these lists have caused during the presidential primaries. As required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), all states must develop a computerized database of registered voters. According to the article, Arizona, California, and New Mexico have all experienced problems with their voter lists.

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