Nonprofit Speech Rights

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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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Lobby Reform Update

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

According to BNA: While House leaders held out hope June 27 that lawmakers could send President Bush a lobbying and ethics reform conference report in the next three days, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said consideration of the measure would extend into July Also of interest is a letter, sent by Sens. Charles Grassley, James Inhofe, and Ron Wyden, and signed by 29 Senators, urging conferees to keep in language that ends the practice of secret holds in the Senate. The letter says:

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Washington Post on the Vermont Case

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the Washington Post: Campaign finance reform is what it pretends to combat: corruption. The Supreme Court should have said something like that when it struck down, as unconstitutional abridgments of free speech, Vermont's severe limits on contributions to and spending by campaigns.

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Club For Growth Says it is Singled Out By FEC

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From BNA: The Club for Growth's new court filings argue that the FEC's enforcement case against a single political organization is unconstitutional. "The Club was but one of many 527s whose activities were equally subject to the claims now made against it," the court papers said. "For the Club to have refrained from the use of such common and unchallenged practices would have distorted public discourse and impaired the Club's fundamental right to speak freely and on equal terms with others."

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Hostettler Introduces his Anti-Establishment Clause Bill Again

Jun 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

John Hostettler (R-IN) has introduced - for the 5th time - the Public Expression of Religion Act, which would "eliminating the award of attorneys' fees to plaintiffs who bring cases based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment -- the phrase in the Constitution that sets up the separation of church and state", according to the Roundtable on Religion and Social Policy.

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Nonprofits Sue Defense Dept. Over Surveillance

On June 14 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against the Department of Defense (DOD) on behalf if itself and six state affiliates over DOD's failure to respond to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The request seeks records DOD has collected on over two dozen groups critical of the administration's war policies.

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Lobby Reform Update: Shays, Meehan Introduce Bill, as Senate Reports on Charities Misuse

While the conference committee to reconcile House and Senate versions of lobby reform legislation remains in limbo, two House members have introduced a new, stronger lobby reform bill, and a Senate committee has called for an investigation into misuse of charities by Abramoff and others. New Shays-Meehan Bill On June 22, Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) introduced H.R. 5677, the Ethics and Lobbying Reform Act. The bill, an amalgamation of provisions supported by reformers that were left out of the House and Senate-passed bills, includes:

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    Nonprofits Protest Barrier to Emailing Congress

    A coalition of more than 100 nonprofits is protesting a new filter used by some congressional offices to block spam, arguing it also inhibits constituent communications. The filter, or "logic puzzle" as it is called, requires senders to answer a question before a message is sent, making it more difficult for online advocacy campaigns that use forms.

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    IRS Modernizes Website's E-File Page

    Jun 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

    Check it out.

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    Programs Face Decreased Funding

    Jun 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

    From 501cstrategies: Even though both the Senate and House will eventually move bills with more money for domestic programs than requested by the President ($5 billion and $4.1 billion, respectively) many of these programs — particularly education programs — will still face decreased funding or, in some case, elimination.

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    SCOTUS Decision in Randall v. Sorrell May Make It More Difficult to Get Money Out Of Politics

    Jun 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

    From the Washington Post: The Supreme Court struck down Vermont's strict limits on campaign contributions and spending yesterday, in a splintered ruling that left intact the constitutional basis of current campaign finance laws but may make it difficult to put new curbs on money in politics. See also the opinion.

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    Resources & Research

    Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race, and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards

    People of color and people living in poverty, especially poor children of color, are significantly more likely...

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    A Tale of Two Retirements: One for CEOs and One for the Rest of Us

    The 100 largest CEO retirement funds are worth a combined $4.9 billion, equal to the entire retirement account savings of 41 percent of American fam...

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    Blowing Smoke: Chemical Companies Say “Trust Us,” But Environmental and Workplace Safety Violations Belie Their Rhetoric

    Large chemical companies a...

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    Gasping for Support: Implementation of Tougher Air Quality Standards Will Require New Funds for State Agencies

    New scientific research shows that the current levels of...

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    more resources
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