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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

Roll Call Says Oversight Needed

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From Roll Call: The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has set a standard for what Congressional oversight should be, but often isn’t, with its investigation of the fleecing of American Indian tribes by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Now, it’s time for the Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees to follow up with probes of his, and others’, misuse of tax-exempt foundations.

read in full

NY Times Says Estate Tax Repeal Could Hurt Charities

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From the New York Times: If the estate tax bill approved last week by the House becomes law, it will benefit wealthy families and cost the government a lot of tax revenue. But there are likely to be other winners and losers as well. Charities may find it harder to get donations and some heirs may have to wait years or even decades longer to collect inheritances, while surviving wives or husbands receive larger inheritances.

read in full

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:

read in full

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.

read in full

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."

read in full

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.

read in full

Muslim Charity's Prosecution Reveals Questionable Evidence

Criminal prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a Texas-based Muslim charity shut down by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001, has provided a glimpse into the government's use of evidence to justify seizure and freezing of charitable assets in the name of the war of terrorism. Pre-trial filings shows sanctions have been imposed against charities and their officials for contacting organizations that are not designated by the government as supporters of terrorism. The case also appears to depend on questionable foreign intelligence information and faulty translations.

read in full

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.

read in full

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:

read in full

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.

read in full