The Countdown to Midterm Elections
With Labor Day now behind us, it’s all about the mid-term elections. And for nonprofits, there are two interesting developments to report....
The Federal Election Committee (FEC) last week considered an interim final rule that would have provided a much-needed exemption to the electioneering communication prohibition contained in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) for certain grassroots lobbying communications on issues of public policy. For background on this issue, see my earlier post.
Unfortunately, though, the FEC declined to take action on the exemption. In fact, Democrats on the Commission went so far as to block any action on the exemption for the foreseeable future. That is, not only did they vote against the actual interim rule, they also voted against two other motions that, if approved, would have allowed for a proposed rule to come back before the Commission in the coming months. Specifically, the Democrats: (1) blocked the initiation of any formal rulemaking procedure and then (2) refused to authorize FEC General Counsel to prepare draft rules for discussion. The irony is that the reason the Democratic Commissioners said they voted against the interim rule in the first place was because a formal rulemaking procedure hadn’t taken place. Yet, when a motion initiating such a rulemaking was before them, they voted against that as well.
Of course, election-related activity for nonprofits is not just governed by federal election law, and in recent months the Internal Revenue Service has stepped up enforcement of so-called "politically active" nonprofits. I’ve covered this topic extensively on the blog, so I encourage you to browse through the archives.
Now comes news the IRS has scheduled two “phone forums” to discuss “political intervention rules” for (c)(3)s. The sessions are scheduled for September 19 and 20, 2006 and are "designed for those with experience in exempt organizations law."
The Federal Election Committee (FEC) last week considered an interim final rule that would have provided a much-needed exemption to the electioneering communication prohibition contained in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) for certain grassroots lobbying communications on issues of public policy. For background on this issue, see my earlier post.
Unfortunately, though, the FEC declined to take action on the exemption. In fact, Democrats on the Commission went so far as to block any action on the exemption for the foreseeable future. That is, not only did they vote against the actual interim rule, they also voted against two other motions that, if approved, would have allowed for a proposed rule to come back before the Commission in the coming months. Specifically, the Democrats: (1) blocked the initiation of any formal rulemaking procedure and then (2) refused to authorize FEC General Counsel to prepare draft rules for discussion. The irony is that the reason the Democratic Commissioners said they voted against the interim rule in the first place was because a formal rulemaking procedure hadn’t taken place. Yet, when a motion initiating such a rulemaking was before them, they voted against that as well.
Of course, election-related activity for nonprofits is not just governed by federal election law, and in recent months the Internal Revenue Service has stepped up enforcement of so-called "politically active" nonprofits. I’ve covered this topic extensively on the blog, so I encourage you to browse through the archives.
Now comes news the IRS has scheduled two “phone forums” to discuss “political intervention rules” for (c)(3)s. The sessions are scheduled for September 19 and 20, 2006 and are "designed for those with experience in exempt organizations law."
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