Promoting and protecting nonprofit advocacy for a stronger democracy

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Lobby Reform Passes Senate Without Inhofe Amendments

The fact that OMB Watch, Alliance for Justice and National Council on Nonprofit Associations were able send alerts to you and that you responded so quickly was critical and not lost on Senate staffers. Because of our earlier conversations, Capitol Hill staff knew that nonprofits would mobilize around these amendments and your actions contributed to the bipartisan agreement to pull them from the final bill.

After yesterday's cloture vote (which restricted amendments to only those that did not introduce new subject matter to the underlying bill), Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) ruled out of order (and therefore no longer under consideration) the Inhofe amendment, among others. Inhofe’s arguments for his amendments were similar to what the sector has heard before. Supporters claim that provisions like this do not limit the speech of nonprofits. Like arguments advanced during the fight over anti-advocacy provisions in the House bill, H.R. 1461, last fall, Inhofe's office claims that all money is fungible. Taking federal grants, they say, frees up other money to do lobbying or election-related activities. They claim that federal grants somehow indirectly underwrite lobbying by nonprofits. It is important that the nonprofit community makes it clear to lawmakers that existing laws and regulations already prohibit nonprofits from using federal funds to lobby or to support or oppose a candidate for elected office. These existing rules are enforced through IRS audits, and these rules work well. Regardless of their political ideology, nonprofits should not be intimidated into silence about relevant issues of the day.

That Sen. Inhofe could introduce such amendments should serve as a warning to our sector to keep a vigilant eye out for similar efforts. For more than 20 years, certain lawmakers have tried to silence the advocacy voice of nonprofits. The nonprofit sector has successfully defended these rights--and we will need to continue doing so in the future.

In other news impacting nonprofits:

Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure: The provision requiring disclosure of grassroots lobbying expenses over a certain threshold was retained in the bill. While grassroots lobbying expenditures would not be used to calculate if an organization is required to report, expenditures of $25,000 or more per quarter for grassroots lobbying would have to be disclosed for organizations already reporting under the LDA. The amendment excludes any grassroots lobbying communications to an organization's members. This is defined in accordance with the tax code definition -- i.e. anyone who contributes more than a nominal amount of time or money to the organization or is entitled to participate in the governance of the nonprofit. Reporting would also not include communications directed at less than 500 members of the general public. Voluntary or unpaid grassroots lobbying efforts also does not need to be reported. Additionally, 501(c)(3) organizations are allowed to use the tax code definitions of grassroots lobbying in place of the new definitions.

Grassroots lobbying disclosure is not currently included in the House version of the lobbying reform package, and there is sure to be a fight to retain the grassroots lobbying provision in conference. Thank you to the national, state and local groups that signed our letter in support of this provision.

Disclosure of Coalition Members: The Senate bill requires public disclosure (by the lobbyist) of organizations that contribute $10,000 or more to a coalition or association that registers under the LDA and plans, supervises or controls in a substantial way in the management of lobbying activities. Such disclosure, however, would be exempt for organizations for which the affiliation or funding of the coalition is "publicly available knowledge." There is no provision on disclosure of coalition members in the House bill.

Disclosure of Campaign Contributions: The Senate bill would require any person who registers as a lobbyist to report all political contributions they make over $200 on an annual form submitted to the Senate Secretary's office. The House is considering a similar proposal.

Travel: Under the Senate bill, privately funded travel (such as travel paid for by a nonprofit) would still be permitted, but subject to new requirements. For example, itineraries would have to be pre-approved by a Senate Committee and a report on the trip would be required within 30 days of the lawmaker's return and would be posted on the Senate's website. The House proposal places a moratorium on such travel for the remainder of 2006 while a review is conducted.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe