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

OMB Watch in the News "Trials of Muslim Charities Likened to a Witch-hunt"

Apr 23, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

IPS News reports; "The U.S. government's anti-terrorist financing programmes are based on the 'guilt by association' tactics of the McCarthy era and have had a widespread negative impact on U.S. charities, critics say. That is the view of Kay Guinane, director of the Nonprofit Speech Rights Programme . . . Guinane told IPS that government actions have resulted in programme cutbacks and increased fear of speaking out on important public issues."

read in full

Objection to Member Disclosure Law Continues

Apr 22, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Yesterday, April 21, was the first filing deadline for lobbying reports under provisions of the new Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA). And unfortunately for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a federal district judge turned down their request for a delay of the April 11 decision upholding the member disclosure provision. In addition, NAM's "emergency appeal" with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was denied. NAM's last hope was the Supreme Court.

read in full

IRS Discusses Continued use of PACI Program

Apr 18, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that its Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) will be in effect for the 2008 election season. "The PACI program seeks to educate section 501(c)(3) organizations such as charities and churches about the federal law concerning political campaign activity and to enforce the law in this area." The IRS press release reports that letters are being sent to the national political party committees, and have asked candidates that their contacts with charitable organizations do not unintentionally put the group's tax-exemption at risk.

read in full

FEC Nominee Withdraws

Apr 16, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Robert Lenhard, one of the Democratic nominees for the Federal Election Commission (FEC), has withdrawn his name from consideration. This latest news means it could be even longer until the FEC is up and running with six commissioners. However, this editorial from RollCall ($$) suggests that "the way out would be for the White House to nominate - and the Senate quickly confirm - two new commissioners, giving the panel four members, two from each party, and the ability to get work done this election year."

read in full

Advocacy Groups Petition the FCC for Text Messaging Capabilities

Apr 16, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

Text messaging can be a powerful tool for advocacy. For example text messages can be used as get out the vote reminders on Election Day or for updates on other various campaigns. However, wireless carriers are continuing to block some of these services, claiming they have the right to control what text messages are sent over their network.

read in full

Member Disclosure Law Upheld, NAM To Appeal

Apr 15, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

The National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM) challenge to a new member disclosure law was dismissed on April 11. NAM was challenging a provision in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) that requires coalitions and associations to reveal organization that contribute at least $5,000 per quarter and actively participates in the lobbying campaigns. The lawsuit attempted to block implementation of the new law, charging that the provision was too vague, and would interfere with their First Amendment right of free association.

read in full

USAID Tells NGOs It Will Proceed with Plan to Use Secret Watch List

On April 11, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) told an overflow crowd of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Washington, DC, that the agency is moving forward with the widely criticized Partner Vetting System (PVS) it proposed in 2007. PVS will require USAID grantees to submit highly personal information about key personnel and leaders to be checked against a secret government watchlist. Although USAID representatives said some changes have been made based on public comments, details are not available, and there will be no further public comment period before the final rule is announced.

read in full

Robocall Regulation Debate Heats Up

Controversy over S. 2624, the Robocall Privacy Act of 2008, has increased in recent weeks following a February Senate committee hearing. Labeled as an affront to First Amendment speech rights, an unwelcome infringement upon citizen-to-citizen communication, and unconstitutionally vague and overly broad, this bill has forced political pundits, consultants, and politicians to debate what constitutes "core political speech" and how best to utilize robocalls. Some consultants in the automated call industry are seeking donations for the Legal Defense Fund of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC), and others are partnering with the National Political Do-Not-Contact Registry.

read in full

Oversight of Terrorist Financing Ignores Problems for Nonprofits

An April 1 Senate Finance Committee hearing continued an unfortunate pattern of insufficient congressional oversight of anti-terrorist financing programs, neglecting to address the unnecessarily harsh impacts the programs have on U.S. charities and philanthropy. Despite an OMB Watch request that the committee hear from additional witnesses, members only heard from Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey. Both Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and Levey raised issues relating to charities that left important questions unasked and unanswered. However, committee staff has agreed to meet with nonprofit representatives.

read in full

SpeechNow.org v. FEC Heard in District Court

Apr 15, 2008 by Amanda Adams*

On Friday April 11, a federal judge heard arguments in the SpeechNow.org case, and reportedly hopes to have a decision soon. According to BNA Money and Politics ($$); "The judge hinted, however, that he was unlikely to go along with SpeechNow.org's request for a preliminary injunction protecting it from enforcement of the [Federal Election Commission] FEC's 'political committee' rules." The group is challenging FEC rules that limit political action committees to collect no more than $5,000 annually from each contributor.

read in full