| In This Issue |
Read the Watcher in Full in Easy-to-Print PDF Format
Charitable Choice
Lame Duck CARE Act Vote Attempt Fails
Federal Budget
A Dismal Outlook for Domestic Spending
Congress Says "No" to Extending Unemployment Benefits
Information & Access
President Signs Homeland Security Bill with Troubling Provisions
House, Senate Pass E-Government Act
OSHA May Face Data Quality Complaints Soon
EPA Releases Enforcement Data Online
Nonprofit Issues
Welcome to NPAction.org!
Treasury Department Issues Anti-Terrorist Financing Voluntary Best Practices"
FEC v. Beaumont Goes to Supreme Court
New Resources on Campaign Finance Law for Nonprofits
Regulatory Matters
EPA Rolls Back Clean Air Protections
OMB to Launch Centralized Online Rulemaking Portal
Read the Watcher in Full in Easy-to-Print PDF Format (11/25/2002)
For your convenience, the OMB Watcher is now also available in full as a PDF document -- this will allow for viewing and printing of the entire issue in one document.
A Dismal Outlook for Domestic Spending (11/25/2002)
Congress officially adjourned last Friday, after passing its seventh Continuing Resolution (CR) of the year. This CR, H.J. 124, was necessary to provide the funding to keep government running because Congress was unable to pass 11 of the 13 appropriations bills for FY 2003, which began on October 1, 2002. This CR funds departments and programs at their FY 2002 levels through January 11. It appears there will be an effort to pass the FY 2003 appropriations before the President’s State of the Union address, so at least one more CR will be necessary.
Congress Says "No" to Extending Unemployment Benefits (11/25/2002)
The 107th Congress officially adjourned on Friday, November 22, and, in doing so, squashed the last chance unemployed workers had this year to secure a needed additional extension of their unemployment benefits. The extension of these benefits will expire on December 28.
President Signs Homeland Security Bill with Troubling Provisions (11/25/2002)
During the recent lame duck session, Congress passed the Homeland Security bill that creates the cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, and President Bush signed it into law today. Unfortunately the bill contains several troubling provisions addressing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
House, Senate Pass E-Government Act (11/25/2002)
On November 15, the House and Senate unanimously passed a modified version of the E-Government Act, which President Bush is expected to sign.
OSHA May Face Data Quality Complaints Soon (11/25/2002)
At a U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) public meeting held November 20, lawyers representing Georgia Pacific (GP) and the American Forest and Paper Association (AFPA) raised the possibility of questioning a CSB report’s compliance with the newly issued Data Quality Guidelines.
Welcome to NPAction.org! (11/25/2002)
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OMB Watch announces the pilot launch of NPAction, a new online resource for nonprofit advocacy. NPAction is being developed as a vibrant central advocacy hub that provides nonprofits access to information about rules governing policy participation, examples of successful and unsuccessful efforts, and identification of key resources.
Our goal is to increase the awareness of groups already engaged in public policy participation, and to, thereby, enhance opportunities for building communities of interest among new and emerging and existing public policy participators. We are working live behind the scenes to continuously improve our offerings. Nonprofits are therefore encouraged to actively explore what's available, suggest their own ideas for resources to add, and provide comments on our work to date. Visit NPAction today! |
Lame Duck CARE Act Vote Attempt Fails (11/25/2002)
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).
Treasury Department Issues Anti-Terrorist Financing Voluntary Best Practices" (11/25/2002)
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department has issued voluntary best practice guidelines for U.S. charities that cover governance, disclosure, transparency and financial practices for all charitable activities. In addition, special procedures for groups that distribute funds to foreign organizations are listed.
FEC v. Beaumont Goes to Supreme Court (11/25/2002)
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.
New Resources on Campaign Finance Law for Nonprofits (11/25/2002)
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.
Nonprofits that use broadcast media for issue advocacy can get information on the FEC's new "electioneering communications" rule from the Campaign Finance Institute. The guide includes the new rule and a summary of the positions taken by nonprofits, reform groups and sponsors of campaign finance reform legislation.
EPA Rolls Back Clean Air Protections (11/25/2002)
The Bush administration announced on November 22 that it is rolling back protections to limit air pollution from factories, refineries and power plants as part of a long-expected overhaul of EPA’s New Source Review program.
OMB to Launch Centralized Online Rulemaking Portal (11/25/2002)
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is planning to launch a web site on December 18 that will allow users to view and submit comments on any federal regulation.
EPA Releases Enforcement Data Online (11/25/2002)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be accepting public comments for the next 60 days on its newly released pilot website -- Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) -- that allows the retrieval of enforcement and compliance information for over 800,000 regulated facilities, as announced in the Federal Register on Nov. 20th.