Protecting Nonprofit 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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Supreme Court Upholds "Preclearance" Provision in 1965 Voting Rights Act

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the "preclearance" provision in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 (NAMUDNO) v. Holder, a case in which a small utility district in Texas challenged Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 5, reauthorized by Congress in 2006, applies to all or parts of 16 states. It requires those states to get federal approval before changing election rules or procedures, due to past laws and practices that discriminated against and disenfranchised racial minorities. This provision is referred to as the "preclearance" provision.

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Supreme Court Decides to Rehear Citizens United Case

On the final day of its 2008-2009 term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to issue a ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC). Instead, the Court will rehear the case Sept. 9, before the next term officially starts in October. The case challenges the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's (BCRA) prohibition on corporate electioneering communications.

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Senate May Soon Consider Bill Requiring Electronic Filing of Campaign Finance Data

Jun 24, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

POLITICO reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are negotiating when to bring up a common sense bill that has been held up for years. The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, S.482, would require campaign fundraising reports to be published on online as House candidates, presidential candidates and other political committees already do.

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FEC Republican Commissioners Defend Themselves

Jun 23, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has released more information on cases that have been dismissed against 527 organizations. The groups were accused of violating federal campaign laws by acting as political committees. FEC Republican commissioners have issued a very interesting Statement of Reasons in a case involving the Economic Freedom Fund (EFF) from the 2006 election. The statement addresses two mailers that the FEC Office of General Counsel (OGC) identified as containing express advocacy.

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ACLU Releases In-depth Report on Anti-terrorism Laws and Charity

Jun 18, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) documents how U.S. counterterrorism laws harm American Muslim charitable giving and negatively affect nonprofit organizations' ability to carry out their work. The study found that the laws are so broad and vague that many Muslim donors fear they could either face strict government scrutiny or have legal problems due to contributions to legitimate charities.

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Lobbying Guidance Now Clarified

Jun 17, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

After new guidance was issued regarding when the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) allows individuals to terminate their registrations, many recognized that a new loophole may have been created to avoid lobbying restrictions imposed by the Obama administration. Questions led to a review of last week's new guidance and now, the guidance has been clarified.

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FEC Dismisses Case Against Ad with Pelosi

Jun 16, 2009 by Amanda Adams*

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) dismissed a complaint against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that was filed because of her appearance in an ad prior to the June 2008 primary election. Pelosi appeared with former Speaker Newt Gingrich during the 2008 campaign to highlight the issue of climate change.

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ACLU Report Documents Ways U.S. Counterterrorism Laws Chill Muslim Donors, Charities

A June 2009 report from the American Civil Liberties Union details how US counterterrorism laws deny Americans their constitutional rights and have jeopardized national security. Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity: Chilling Muslim Charitable Giving in the “War on Terrorism Financing”, calls on the President, federal agencies and Congress to  rethink and redo laws and policies that make donating to charity and the humanitarian work of NGOs into suspect activities and provide little or no redress for the accused to respond to charges of supporting terrorism.

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Questions about LDA Guidance Remain

New congressional guidance on lobbyist reporting and registration termination under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) has sparked concerns over accuracy and potential conflicts with current law. The guidance addresses filing requirements for lobbyists, as well as criteria for deregistering as a lobbyist, particularly important given President Barack Obama's hiring rules that place restrictions on those who have lobbied in the past two years. The deregistration rules may create enormous loopholes that could result in non-reporting of lobbyist activities.

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Grassley Seeks Disclosure of Ethics Waivers

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) is determined to make public every ethics waiver issued to former lobbyists who now work in the Obama administration. A Jan. 21 executive order put in place restrictions on lobbyists who work for the federal government. The order included a waiver process, allowing exemptions if the "application of the restriction is inconsistent with the purposes of the restriction" or if it is in the "public interest." Grassley is prodding the administration to disclose all waivers granted under the policy. Grassley has also requested information on every letter of recusal that waived employees have on file.

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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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