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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August 3, 2010 Charity and Security Network Newsletter

Vol. 2, Issue 14
1. Appeals Court Orders Due Process to Fix State's Listing of Foreign Terrorist Organization
2. In a Bad SPOT: Why a Military Database for NGOs Is Impractical
3. Senate Hearing Looks at Problems with FBI Surveillance Guidelines
4. ACLU Requests FBI Records on Racial Profiling
5. Response to Matthew Levitt's Take on Due Diligence by Charities (Part 2)
6. Lisa Schirch’s Huffington Post blog: Supreme Court Ruling Impacts Peacebuilding in Afghanistan
7. House Report Calls for Examining Details of USAID's Problematic Vetting System

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AU Asks IRS to Investigate Oklahoma Group for Electioneering Against Transgender Candidate

Jul 30, 2010 by Lateefah Williams*

Last Week, Americans United for Separation of Church and State urged the IRS to investigate an Oklahoma religious organization for violating federal law prohibiting tax-exempt groups from electioneering.

Americans United claims that Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ, a tax-exempt organization, sent out an e-mail urging those on its email distribution list to support Rep. Sally Kern in her reelection campaign for the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

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Committee Approves Shareholder Protection Act

Jul 29, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

The House Financial Services Committee approved the Shareholder Protection Act, H.R. 4790. The bill requires shareholder approval of a corporation's political spending for federal races. The Securities and Exchange Commission would have to issue rules requiring corporations to disclose any materials for political activities created with or purchased using company money. The bill was introduced by Rep.

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Bill Would Create a Task Force for Enforcing the LDA

Jul 29, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

The Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act passed the House to establish a task force to strengthen enforcement of rules for federally registered lobbyists. Originally, the bill was the Fees on Lobbyists Act. It would have set up registration fees and fines for lobbyists' late filings to fund enforcement. However, the bill was amended to simply create the Lobbying Disclosure Enforcement Task Force.

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Groups Work to Change the LDA

Jul 28, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

Reportedly, the American League of Lobbyists is working with the Sunlight Foundation to change the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA). Once again Tom Daschle is the poster child for why such reform is needed. "Daschle, working with his firm's lobbyists, uses his decades of congressional experience to tell clients how to favorably influence policy.

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Unsurprisingly, Senate Will Not Debate the DISCLOSE Act

Jul 27, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

With a vote of 57-41, the Senate voted against proceeding to debate the DISCLOSE Act, S. 3628. The bill will likely not be addressed again before the August recess.

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FEC Approves Advisory Opinions for Independent Expenditure Committees

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently voted 5-1 to approve advisory opinions allowing two political organizations to collect unlimited contributions for independent expenditures in federal campaigns. The groups, the conservative Club for Growth (the Club) and pro-Democratic Commonsense Ten, will disclose their donors and spending to the FEC. The opinions provide some guidance to entities that wish to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to run ads supporting or opposing candidates for federal office.

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Senate Will Consider DISCLOSE Act Next Week

Jul 23, 2010 by Amanda Adams*

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a revised version of the DISCLOSE Act (S. 3628) on July 21, in hopes of gaining some much needed support from moderate Republicans before the upcoming August recess.

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Reid Plans to Bring DISCLOSE Act to Senate Floor before August Recess

Jul 16, 2010 by Lateefah Williams*

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the DISCLOSE Act (the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act) to the Senate floor before the August recess. It was introduced in April by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to mitigate the effects of the January U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

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