Nonprofit Speech Rights | Center for Effective Government

Proposed Standard Format for Grant Announcements

The Streamlining Grants Management Project filed comments on a proposed standard format for federal grant opportunity announcements, based on feedback from nonprofits. It praised the effort as a positive first step, and made suggestions about additional information nonprofits said would be very helpful. The text is below, or you can download a copy of the original comments. October 11, 2002 Elizabeth Phillips, Office of Federal Financial Management Office of Management and Budget, Room 6025 New Executive Office Building Washington, D.C. 20503

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CBO Study Says Nonitemizer Deduction a Nonstarter for Fundraising

A study released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on December 17, Effects of Allowing Nonitemizers to Deduct Charitable Deductions found that allowing nonitemizers to claim a deduction for charitable contributions would be unlikely to increase the level of giving by more than 4 percent. The findings are similar to a Congressional Researech Service report earlier this year.

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Faith-Based Executive Order and Proposed Rules Open Door to Religious Discrimination

After two years of trying and failing to win congressional approval of its plan to increase the number of faith-based organizations receiving government grants for social services programs, the Bush Administration took matters into its own hands and implemented several of the most controversial provisions in Executive Order: Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-based and Community Organizations.

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Secrecy Sought by Government in Campaign Finance Reform Case

A special three-judge district court, which heard arguments earlier this month, is expected to rule sometime in January on the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The court ordered that all documents in this controversial case be made public, unless there were specific objections. Since then, the court has heard from more than two-dozen organizations and individuals asking that their information be kept secret.

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FEC Approves New Rule on Coordinated Communications

On December 5 the Federal Election Commission (FEC) approved new regulations that define when communications with a federal candidate, a campaign, party or their agent, may turn an otherwise independent expenditure into a prohibited in-kind campaign contribution. The rule implements the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which required the FEC to write tougher regulations in this area. The regulations will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The new rules use a three-part test to determine when an expense is considered “coordinated”. It must be for a public communication paid for by someone other than a candidate or campaign and meet specific standards relating to both content and conduct between the candidate and group or person paying for it.

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NPAction Greeted By Positive Reception; State Advocacy Guides Added

NPAction, OMB Watch's new online resource for nonprofit advocacy, launched on November 22, 2002 in its pilot form. In the roughly two weeks since, the site has averaged roughly 1,300 unique visitors who have taken the time to explore the content offerings and features, and more importantly, to provide feedback on what's available.

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Congress Reaches Compromise on Webcaster Royalty Payments

Over one month after reaching an in the House, the 107th Congress agreed on an alternate version of legislation designed to grant smaller webcasters a measure of protection with respect to royalty payments for copyrighted streaming media content.

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FEC v. Beaumont Goes to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has granted a request by the Justice Department to review a ruling that allows direct campaign contributions from nonprofit organizations, based on a legal theory that nonprofits are inherently different from for-profit corporations, and do not pose the same threat of corruption. Arguments are expected to be heard in March 2003.

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New Resources on Campaign Finance Law for Nonprofits

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published a fact sheet for PACs (Section 527 organizations) detailing new exemptions and filing requirements in order to comply with this fall's Congressional amendments to the Stealth PAC law of 2000. The amendments were designed to eliminate duplicative reporting for PACs that work on state and local elections, and to improve the usefulness of information on federal elections by making it available on the web in searchable form. See the outline of the new rules and the detailed IRS Fact Sheet.

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Lame Duck CARE Act Vote Attempt Fails

On November 14, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) attempted and failed to secure unanimous consent to bring the CARE act up for a vote. This effectively killed the bill, which has been mired in controversy and compromise for almost two years, in the 107th Congress. The most controversial point, allowing churches to discriminate based on religion when hiring for government-funded programs was supported by House Republicans, but strongly opposed by several Democratic Senators, including Jack Reed (D-RI).

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