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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What the Election Results Mean for Nonprofits

Nov 27, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

The Philanthropy Journal has a two part commentary written by Rick Cohen on what the election results mean for nonprofits. The first part has a summary of the nonprofit experience that the freshman class will bring to the 110th Congress. For example, John Yarmouth is the founder of the Center for Kentucky Progress, a state policy think-tank. There is also a run down of the key members who have left Congress. And of course, the Democrats are now capable of making lobbying reform an initial concern. "Moving lobbying reform would allow Sen.

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Ethics Package To Be Considered Piece by Piece

Nov 21, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

It is no secret that House leaders are planning a major ethics reform bill, but the package will be brought to the House floor piecemeal. This will ensure that each important proposal, such as banning gifts from lobbyists, is debated on and receives its own vote. This should also bring about more media attention and hopefully a positive glimpse into how Democrats will act as the majority party.

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Continued Documentation of Antiwar Groups

Nov 21, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

OMB Watch has reported on the Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON) database before and now the New York Times is revealing that the database continues to hold information on peaceful, antiwar groups, such as simple antiwar planning meetings. TALON is used by the Defense Department to prevent attacks against the military. The head of the office that runs the database, Daniel J. Baur, commented that this information was never intended to be collected and,

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Punishment for Robo Calls

Nov 21, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

It is no secret that during this past election there was wide spread use of "robo calls". Voters were bombarded throughout the country with repetitive, deceptive calls and now legislators want to act on these misleading campaign methods. The incoming majority leader Harry Reid and other Democratic leaders have serious concerns about these calls and other unethical campaign practices utilized before the election. Rep. John Conyers has called for federal officials to investigate complaints about the calls, possibly resulting in hearings before the House Judiciary Committee. Most notably, Sen.

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FEC Expands Regulation of Voter Guides

A Nov. 9, 2006 enforcement decision by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) expands federal campaign finance regulation to voter guides that do not endorse or oppose candidates if the FEC determines the guide's overall content implies support or opposition to federal candidates. The case arose from a complaint filed in December 2004 by Edmund A. Hamburger of Pinellas Park, FL, which claimed "the Sierra Club was advocating the election of Senator Kerry to the Presidency of the United States." On Nov. 9, the Sierra Club chose to settle the case and pay a $28,000 civil fine rather than incur further legal expenses, but denied any wrongdoing. The case could discourage future efforts by advocacy organizations to educate voters about candidates' track records.

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Democrats Pledge Ethics Reforms

Two weeks after the election, attention has turned to considering what the results mean for government priorities and the likely impacts on the way Congress operates. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are working on an agenda for the 110th Congress that includes ethics and lobbying reform proposals as part of their "100 Hours" initiative. As incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, "We will start by cleaning up Congress, breaking the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go, no new deficit spending."

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FEC Fines Sierra Club $28,000 For "Express Advocacy" in Voter Guide

Nov 16, 2006 by Kay Guinane

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) charged that in 2004 the nonprofit environmental group Sierra Club, a 501(c)(4), used funds from its corporate treasury to pay for a pamphlet "expressly advocating" the defeat of federal candidates. A specific guide was considered titled, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide," that used check marks to compare the environmental records of Bush and Kerry and the U.S. Senate candidates. It was found that the pamphlet “expressly advocated” Kerry and Castor’s election and Bush and Martinez’s defeat.

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Any Hopes for Senate Electronic Filing?

Nov 15, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

The Campaign Finance Institute brings light to the fact that in six of the top ten Senate races, voters could not look up candidate's election contributions since June 30. House and Presidential candidates, other party committees, all PACs, and Section 527 political organizations, all have to file their federal campaign finance reports electronically while Senators do not. The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S.1508)would require U.S. Senate candidates to do so.

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Bank Plans to Close Life for Relief and Development's Accounts

Nov 15, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

As previously reported, on September 18 the Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the Muslim charity Life for Relief and Development in Michigan. It has recently been revealed in the Detroit Free Press that subsequently after the raid the organization was told by Comerica Bank that they were to close all seven of their bank accounts by October 2. While in operation the charity used Comerica to circulate millions of dollars. In light of Ramadan and the difficulty of closing the accounts so quickly, they were given an extension till November 15.

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Government Funding of Religious Structures

Nov 15, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

On November 9 a federal appeals court ruled that the government can not fund a building where both secular and religious activities occur, even if it is in the interest of supporting secular work that assists the community. The case Community House Inc. v. the City of Boise involves a secular nonprofit, Community House, which ran a homeless shelter in the city-owned building. A Christian nonprofit, Bosie Rescue Mission was then selected to run the shelter planning to change the facility to be for men only and requiring all residents to attend religious services.

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