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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Double Standard: Chiquita Banana Fined, Not Shut Down, for Transactions with Designated Terrorists

In a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on March 14 Chiquita Brands International agreed to pay a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a dangerous region of Colombia. The payments, made between 1997 and 2004, continued despite the company's knowledge that they were illegal. The company was allowed to continue profitable production during the investigation. The U.S. government's action is inconsistent with standards and procedure used against charities, which have had their assets seized and frozen while investigations are pending.

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Analyzing the Briefs

Mar 30, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Bob Bauer in his blog, moresoftmoneyhardlaw, plans on commenting on the amicus briefs filed in the Wisconsin Right to Life case. The first one analyzes the brief filed on behalf of Norm Ornstein, Thomas Mann, Anthony Corrado and the Committee on Economic Development. Be sure to check back for comments on the numerous other amicus briefs.

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Nonprofit Leaders Disappointed in Poor Oversight of Federal Grants

Mar 30, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

This article out of Fairbanks Alaska concerns a lack of federal oversight of money nonprofits obtain through earmarks. "Some [who work in nonprofits] add, though, that federal program officers don't, or can't, always watch closely. In addition, if the federal agency isn't involved in selecting the grantee, as occurs with earmarked funds, fundamental problems may escape the agency's notice, they say." A nonprofit in Fairbanks, LOVE Social Services, about $450,000 of a $2.9 million that Sen.

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House Committee Passes GSE Reform Bill

Mar 30, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Yesterday the House Financial Services Committee passed H.R. 1427, the Federal Housing Reform Act of 2007. The bill will provide additional funding for affordable housing and change the oversight of the government sponsored enterprises (GSE) of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Last year efforts were made to greatly restrict the affordable housing trust fund, limiting the groups that could apply based on lobbying and GOTV activities. Fortunately these same attempts were not made this year and the bill passed committee yesterday is absent language of the sort.

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"Donors, Nonprofit Employees Support Lobbying Disclosures"

Mar 29, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Nonprofit Times highlighted the OMB Watch survey on grassroots lobbying disclosure. The article discusses the survey results and responses in some detail. For example, many who took the survey commented that disclosure would help distinguish "between genuine grassroots activism, which tends to be money-poor but people-rich, and 'Astroturf' lobbying, which tends to be money-rich."

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Terror Watch List Misuse: Everyday Accounts

Mar 28, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Banks use the watch list of suspected terrorists maintained by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to assist in identifying potential financial transaction violations, such as when a Muslim charity wants to use its services for overseas transfers to send humanitarian aid. Now the wide spread use of the OFAC list is being exposed. For example many Americans are being denied jobs and various services because their names are similar to others who are designated.

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Democratic Leadership Council a 501(c)(4)?

Mar 28, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determined that the Democratic Leadership Council Inc. (DLC) which previously filed as a 501(c)(4) organization, was not eligible for tax exempt status. The group then filed a lawsuit to seek a reversal of the IRS determination. A hearing was scheduled for last September, but then canceled when lawyers for both parties agreed that the hearing was not necessary. But now the judge has changed his mind and according to BNA Money and Politics ($$) the judge has scheduled oral arguments for April 23.

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Charities File Amicus Brief in Grassroots Communications Case

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2007—On March 23, a diverse coalition of 17 charities filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission, urging the Court to protect the right of charities to broadcast grassroots educational and lobbying communications. The brief argues that because charities and religious organizations must remain nonpartisan in elections, they do not broadcast the type of "sham issue ads" that the McCain-Feingold law was meant to stop.

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Senators: File Campaign Reports Electronically!

Mar 27, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Tomorrow the Senate Rules and Administration Committee will hold a markup hearing on S.223, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act. As predicted, ranking member Bob Bennett (R-UT) wants to attach an amendment to the bill that would lift the caps on coordinating spending between party committees and individual campaigns. However, proponents including Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) are urging the passage of a clean bill with no amendments. The Campagin Finance Institute is calling it a "poison pill" that could destroy the bill's chances of being approved.

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NYC Police Spying On Groups Before Convention

Mar 26, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The New York Times reported that the New York City Police Department's Intelligence Division sent undercover detectives around the city and country collecting information on activists planning on demonstrating at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Surveillance was not only conducted on groups that planned on disrupting the convention, but rather broadly on political activists throughout the country. Yet, the lawyers for the city say these documents should remain secret, in light of the civil lawsuits pending from the more than 1,000 arrests made during the convention.

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