Protecting Nonprofit 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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more news

First Amendment Restoration Act

Feb 8, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Representative Bartlett (R-MD) has introduced H.R. 71, the First Amendment Restoration Act. This bill would repeal the "electioneering communication" provision in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The "electioneering communication" ban prohibits labor unions, corporations, and nonprofits from sponsoring broadcast advertisements that have any reference to a federal candidate 30 days before a primary election and 60 days before a general election. Bartlett's press release references the Wisconsin Right to Life case that the Supreme Court will hear April 25.

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Bush's Proposed Budget And Charities

Feb 7, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Chronicle on Philanthropy ($$) outlines how President Bush's budget request will affect nonprofits, charities, and foundations. While it proposes a permanent extension of the law that encourages older Americans to give money in their retirement accounts to charity, it would also cut many of the federal programs charities rely on. Encouraging giving to charity from a retirement account is no guarantee replacement for some of the federal programs that could be cut, almost nullifying the retirement account incentive.

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FEC Tells Court that Case-by-Case Regulation of Independent PACs Works

On Feb. 1, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) published new guidance for its 2004 rule defining when independent political committees are subject to federal campaign finance rules and contribution limits. The document responds to a court order seeking stricter regulation of 527 groups. In the guidance, the FEC cites its 2006 enforcement action against six groups as proof that its case-by-case approach — used to determine whether a group's "major purpose" is to influence federal elections — is workable.

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Courts Defining When Government Funds Cannot Support Faith-Based Programs

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments about whether taxpayers have the right to challenge the constitutionality of government funding for conferences supported by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that are alleged to promote religious groups over secular ones. Meanwhile, several recent court decisions involving separation of government-funded and religious programs provide some clarity to vague federal regulations.

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More Grassroots Campaigns to Come

Feb 6, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

An article in The Hill discusses how ethics rule changes will generate an even greater reliance on grassroots campaigns. Grassroots lobbying and lobbying firms are becoming increasingly more important, and will continue to do so. Lobbyists are not required to report grassroots campaigns to the federal government making them difficult to monitor, while traditional lobby firms will growingly partner with independent grassroots firms.

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Your Opinion on Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure

Feb 6, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Take Our Survey!

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Federal Grant for Marriage Program Challenged for Religious Content

Feb 6, 2007 by Kay Guinane

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) recently filed an updated complaint in their lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging use of public funds for the Northwest Marriage Institute's bible based marriage counseling program. The Institute received a direct grant of $50,000 from the Department of Health and Human Service's Compassion Capital Fund, to help small religious groups increase their ability to compete for government contracts.

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The FEC Position on 527 Organizations

Feb 1, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has released a draft justification of its political committee status; or why 527 organizations are not regulated as political committees. The agency is defending itself for not issuing a rule defining "political committee" and arguing that the rules adopted in 2004 are adequate. These 2004 rules will be used to determine whether any group is working solely to influence federal elections without abiding by federal campaign finance restrictions.

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Task Force to Examine House Rules

Feb 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

As promised, an outside panel will decide how to enforce the new House rules. The group will make recommendations by May 1 on such matters as the proposed Office of Public Integrity. Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner announced yesterday the bi-partisan eight member panel. Pelosi and Boehner each named four members and according to CQ ($) Representative Capuano (D-MA) will be chairing the panel.

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Lobby Reform in the House

Jan 31, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Roll Call ($$) is reporting on some of the troubles the House is having in crafting a lobbying reform bill. There is some question on whether or not the legislation should include a requirement that lobbyists disclose the amount of donations that they "bundle" together and then give to candidates. A staffer was quoted in the article that they are hoping to have a draft within the next two weeks. Representatives Van Hollen and Meehan introduced this bundling proposal as a separate bill, H.R.633.

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