New Posts

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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Conferees Consider Rights, Restrictions on Electioneering

Opponents of church electioneering are breathing a tentative sigh of relief. On Sept. 29, Rep. Bill Thomas told the first meeting of conferees that he would not consider amendments to a discussion draft of his proposed version of the corporate tax bill. The chair of the conference committee on is opposing any amendments to that bill that were not provisions or modifications to the previous already-passed Senate or House versions. However, there is still concern that the conferees could include language similar to H.R.

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Nonprofits Need to Increase Their Roles This Election Season

Low turnout among young voters is often ascribed to apathy, but part of the problem is the barriers young people face when casting ballots or trying to work at the polls. A Caltech/MIT study concluded that 4 million to 6 million votes were lost nationwide in the 2000 election. Half of these were traced to registration problems. Nonprofits can help remove these barriers.

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Bill to Regulate Independent Political Committees Introduced in Congress

The "527 Reform Act of 2004", introduced on September 22, would limit soft money for independent political groups, but does not clearly exempt advocacy groups exempt under Section 501(c) of the tax code.

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Bush Expands Faith-Based Initiative to Vouchers, State Control

In an effort to further weaken the wall separating church and state, President Bush is seeking to expand his faith-based initiative to the state and local levels. He is pushing state and local governments to adopt rules and policies similar to federal regulations that favor faith-based groups in government-funded programs.

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Courts Rule on Nonprofits Electioneering Communications

Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations have come under scrutiny lately as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court have ruled on lawsuits regarding electioneering communications. These actions have implications for nonprofits. On Sept. 18, District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly struck down more than a dozen of the FEC's current rules on political fundraising, including rules regulating electioneering communications of 501(c)(3) groups.

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Tax Bill May Include Church Electioneering and Charity Tax Provisions

While House and Senate negotiators are beginning to advance must-pass export tax repeal legislation (H.R. 4520, S. 1637 ), some lawmakers are beating down doors to slip legislation harmful to nonprofits into the bill by the backdoor -- a bill that would allow church electioneering.

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Independent Political Committees Controversy Hits Courts

The Bush campaign lost the first round of a legal bid to force the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to act on a complaint it filed against political committees opposing his re-election, but attorneys for the campaign promised to pursue the issue. Meanwhile, the House sponsors of campaign finance reform legislation filed suit against the FEC seeking stricter rules regulating political committees.

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Nonprofits Needed to Help Fill Poll Worker Shortage

Low turnout among young voters is often ascribed to apathy, but part of the problem is the barriers young people face when casting ballots or trying to work at the polls. Nonprofits can help remove these barriers. In many states, to register to vote, you must establish a "fixed and permanent" address. Yet many young people's "fixed and permanent" address is miles away from where they spend eight months of each year. College residence generally does not qualify as "fixed and permanent" for purposes of voting, since it does not demonstrate intent to establish residency.

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Church Electioneering Bill Could Go Into Jobs Bill at Conference

Political pressure is building on a powerful House lawmaker to allow religious organizations to endorse political candidates and use their resources for partisan activities. Conservative lawmakers are trying to include the HR 235, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, into the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, HR 4520, which is currently in conference committee on Capitol Hill. This proposal has already been rejected twice in the House of Representatives.

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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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