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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Earmarks II: OMB "Database" Tracks FY08 Bills

Jul 12, 2007 by Dana Chasin

A Citizen's "Consumer Report" This week, OMB announced a new feature to what it terms its "earmarks database" -- data showing estimates of the number and cost of earmarks in the individual FY 2008 Appropriations bills as they move through the legislative process. We road-tested this database here at OMB Watch and give it one thumbs-up.

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Email System Blocks Civic Participation

Jul 12, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Roll Call ($$) reports that the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is working on a project to attempt to solve a problem facing Members and their staff, excessive amounts of e-mail that often causes their systems to crash. The article explains the many frustrations citizens and nonprofits are feeling in trying to carry out their advocacy work in encouraging people to contact Congress on important issues, and the frustration of those receiving the unmanageable number of messages.

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Waiting for the FEC

Jul 12, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Yesterday during a Federal Election Commission (FEC) hearing, the commission was considering the issue of hybrid ads. BNA Money and Politics ($$) discusses yesterday's hearing in length and the wrangling of their possible rulemaking. A final rule has not been drafted with details still to be worked out, including how much of the cost of an ad could be taken on by a party and how much must be paid by the candidate or candidates named in the ad. However, the article also touches upon another subject the FEC is considering.

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Webcasters Would Be Forced to Cease Lobbying to Avoid Royalties

Jul 12, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

There is currently a push for an advocacy restriction in a proposed deal to allow public radio stations to broadcast over the internet without having to pay additional royalty fees. KCRW, Southern California's National Public Radio weekly music commentary, On The Beat, reported that "SoundExchange offered to music webcasters concerning internet music royalties includes quid pro quos that the organization did not disclose in its July 29 press release.

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Hearing on 501(c)(3) Organizations Announced

Jul 11, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee has announced a July 24 hearing covering an overview of tax-exempt organizations, specifically 501(c)(3) charities and foundations. Most likely witnesses representing the nonprofit sector (from the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector) will urge Congress to extend several tax breaks for donors and put forward their opinion on information that charities must disclose to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

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"Move Lobby Reform Legislation Forward"

Jul 11, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

OMB Watch has released a press statement in response to recent actions that have blocked the Senate from going to conference on lobbying and ethics reform legislation. The latest Watcher has an article on the fruitless attempts to send the measure to conference.

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WRTL Aftermath: Confusion

Jul 11, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The recent New York Times Magazine has an article titled, "Right to Spend" which discusses the complex and certain issue of money in politics by referencing the recent Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) decision without actually discussing the case. "Now, however, the Supreme Court has used the First Amendment to throw out one part of the law and threatened to discard the rest. In this new gilded age, are we doomed to return to gilded-age politics?

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Earmark Dispute Delays Lobbying and Ethics Legislation

Jul 10, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Congress has now returned from the July 4th recess and efforts to send lobbying and ethics legislation into conference committee were once again blocked. These events are a repeat of what occurred right before the recess. The Politico reports on the struggle Democratic leaders will face, especially from Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) who is insisting that the earmark disclosure provision is not altered during conference. However, Democrats simply see this as a means to block the ethics reform bill.

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Aftermath of Supreme Court's Ruling Exempting Grassroots Lobbying from Campaign Finance Restrictions

Reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) include dire predictions of massive amounts of soft money spent on sham issue ads before the 2008 elections, and even the end of the entire campaign finance regulatory regime. But the actual impact of the decision, which exempts grassroots lobbying broadcasts from the "electioneering communications" ban on corporate funded broadcasts that refer to federal candidates within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, is likely to be much more limited. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) must decide whether or not it will establish a rule implementing the decision, while a similar case has been sent back to a lower court for a ruling consistent with the Supreme Court's opinion.

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Stalled Lobby Reform Bills to be Resolved Before August Recess

The House and Senate have now overwhelmingly passed their respective pieces of lobbying and ethics reform legislation, but a partisan impasse in the Senate has stalled progress. Before the Independence Day recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was unable to reach an agreement with Republicans to go to conference. The House and Senate bills both increase current disclosure requirements for paid lobbying activities under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, but a few discrepancies between the two have to be worked out in conference. Reid promised to complete work on the lobbying and ethics bill before the August recess.

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