In This Issue Public Input Sought in e-Gov e-Xperiment   Trouble Tars Release of Toxics Data   Internet Sales Tax Moratorium Passes House   Budget Process Bill Bites the Dust   Higher and Higher: Surplus Watch   Graph: Rising Surplus Estimates   Appropriations Update   Supplemental Spending Bill Gets Piecemealed   Access to Information Threatened by Appropriations   CTCs and Appropriations   A-130 Revision Comments   New Bills Seek Nonprofit Campaign Contribution Disclosure   Anti-Nonprofit Language Dies a Quick Death   Tech Help: Instant Messaging   Tech Help: Nonprofit Technology Funding   Notes and Sidebars   Public Input Sought in e-Gov e-Xperiment A new –- and very exciting -- effort is underway to explore how the Internet can make government more responsive to the public. Sens. Fred Thompson (R-TN) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, are teaming up to "enhance the citizen's access to government information and services, and ... provide new ways to increase citizen participation in the democratic process." Toward the possibility of introducing legislation to strengthen citizen participation, Thompson and Lieberman have been doing background research on e-government: asking questions about how to make government information more accessible and whether the regulatory process can be more responsive to and inclusive of public viewpoints; raising questions about executive branch organization -– should their be an information czar? should there be a separate department dealing with information?; and exploring public-private sector issues, such as the role the private sector should play in strengthening e-government. And they have been concerned about privacy and security in the Internet age. There are very few issues that they have not considered in their background research. Up to this point, they have followed a fairly traditional course of action: seeking input from a number of experts and requesting that the General Accounting Office identify ideas. But now they are breaking out of the mold. In a move unprecedented in Congress, they are seeking the input from the public about e-government through a web site -– a sort of virtual congressional hearing. We strongly endorse this bipartisan effort. Everything about it has been done right. Rather than simply jumping in with a bill that instructs the executive branch to do a better job in using the Internet to make government more accessible, Thompson and Lieberman are committed to making a difference -- and demonstrating, in this process of seeking public input, one of the steps that can be taken. The web site provides great opportunity for the public to comment on a range of ideas and to offer suggestions to the two Senators. The public can choose to read about and comment on 10 general subject areas, with topics under each subject. These include the federal government's funding of information technology, the information content of government web sites, and ways for government officials to promote citizen participation in governance. Each topic is described, along with a general description of differing points of view, so that users can give an educated reaction. The public can also view comments submitted by others. Users who wish to provide comments are required to provide an e-mail address and to categorize themselves (e.g., individual, government agency, academic institution). Users may provide their name, zip code, and a phone number along with their comments, but are not required to do so. Visit e-Government: An Experiment in Interactive Legislation. Back to Top Trouble Tars Release of Toxics Data On Thursday, May 11, 2000, EPA released 1998 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data disclosing releases of over 600 toxic chemicals into the air, land and water in American communities. This year’s release comes with unprecedented mishaps for EPA’s flagship right-to-know program: Data from industrial sectors reporting for the first time were fraught with so many errors that EPA actually telephoned hundreds of facility operators to help them fix their filings, delaying the release of the new data by several months. After the delay, EPA staff was given less than 24-hour notice to organize a press conference, finalize modifications in the data, and release it to the public. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, EPA is releasing two versions of the data through two separate online tools, which has already left users of TRI data confused. EPA’s new experimental tool called TRI Explorer provides public access to a "frozen" version of the TRI database. EPA used this version to produce press materials (e.g., TRI summaries, state-by-state breakdowns of releases). A different version of the TRI database, one incorporating new changes as companies file corrections and other updates, is available through EPA’s Envirofacts system. For the first time in the ten-year history of the TRI program, EPA has not provided the data for posting on RTK NET, our 11-year-old nationally-recognized service that provides free public access to environmental data on the Internet at www.rtknet.org, at the moment that EPA releases the data to the public. We have acquired the data and have begun the month-long process of incorporating the data into the online system. Related Links:

• Summary of 1998 TRI data
• EPA Envirofacts
• EPA TRI Explorer
• RTK NET

Back to Top Internet Sales Tax Moratorium Passes in House On May 10, 2000, the House voted 352-75 to extend a moratorium on Internet-specific taxes for five years, until Oct. 1, 2006 (H.R. 3709). Supporters of the bill argued that the moratorium is not about sales taxes. Rather, it would prohibit the imposition of new taxes on access to the Internet and prevent "multiple" or "discriminatory" taxes on Internet use. While technically correct, this is misleading. While states can still impose a sales tax, their ability to enforce an Internet sales tax has been greatly eroded by Supreme Court decisions. Federal legislation is needed to help states create an even playing field between bricks-and-mortar and Internet businesses. Instead, the House bill further discourages states from finding solutions, leaving bricks-and-mortar businesses at a competitive disadvantage and limiting government resources for state and local services. Click here for the full OMB Watch analysis. Now the ball is in the Senate's court. Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-SD), the Minority Leader, said that the Senate would likely act before the July 4 recess. It appears that Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is close to offering a bill that would:

• Create a 5-year moratorium like the one passed in the House, which extends the Internet Tax Freedom Act passed in 1998;
• Contain a non-binding resolution that states and localities should work together through the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to develop a streamlined sales and use tax system. The resolution would describe some of the elements that should be part of the streamlined system;
• Establish an Interstate Sales and Use Tax Compact that incorporates the streamlined systems from the non-binding resolution. If 20 or more states agree to the Compact before January 1, 2005, then it will be assumed that Congress assents to the multistate compact unless Congress passes a resolution of disapproval within 90 days of notification of the compact; and
• Address the limitations established by the Supreme Court under Quill Corp. v. North Dakota.

The House bill does not address the problem created by the Quill decision. In 1987, North Dakota passed a law that required out-of-state businesses to collect sales taxes on items shipped to its residents. The state law said that solicitation of a consumer market in the state was enough of a nexus (or presence in the state) to require the collection of a tax by the remote vendor. However, Quill Corporation, based in Illinois, filed suit against the law, arguing that because it had no physical presence in North Dakota, it had no nexus. As a result, it could not be required to collect a sales tax and remit it to North Dakota. Quill took its argument to court. After a first court ruled in favor of Quill, the North Dakota Supreme Court reversed the decision in favor of the state. Quill then took the case to the Supreme Court, which, in 1992, ruled in favor of Quill Corporation. The Supreme Court argued that North Dakota could not make its own boundaries under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Instead, Congress needs to affirm the requirements of what constitutes a nexus for purposes of taxation. Until Congress addresses this issue, states will not have any true enforcement mechanisms to collect Internet sales tax. Back to Top Budget Process Bill Bites the Dust By a 166-250 vote, the Nussle-Cardin budget process bill, considered in the House on May 16, was soundly defeated. Just like any kind of major "reform" effort, the bill had the potential to disrupt the status quo and change balances of power, making passage difficult. As one of the authors of the bill, Jim Nussle (R-IA), quoted in the Washington Post, said, "Any time you’re reforming anything –- campaign finance reform, budget reform, you name it -– it’s difficult because people see a certain level of advantage in preserving the status quo...and are afraid to give up that turf." This bill would have changed the budget resolution to have the force of law by requiring the President to sign it. Although many of us agree that there are real problems with the way the federal budget process currently works, this bill would have had serious negative consequences on the budget process. All of the controversial amendments to the bill -- biennial budgeting, an appropriations lockbox, automatic continuing resolutions, a new sequester on spending, and others -- were also soundly defeated. Back to Top Higher and Higher: Surplus Watch Rumor has it that when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issues its Mid-Year Review in July, estimates of the federal budget surplus will be dramatically higher than previously predicted -- somewhere between $500 billion and $1 trillion over ten years. A sign that this might not just be wishful thinking is in the new estimates included in the most recent CBO Monthly Budget Review: "It now appears likely that the total surplus for the year will exceed $200 billion and the on-budget surplus will exceed $40 billion." That’s $26 billion more in the non-Social Security surplus than estimated a few months ago. The resources are available to use for long-neglected domestic needs, while still allowing some payment on the national debt. There is, of course, one caveat -– that the surplus isn’t used for tax cuts. Visit the Invest in America web site to learn more about the budget surplus and domestic investment. Back to Top Graph Showing Rapid Increase in Budget Surplus Estimates Appropriations Update Agriculture Nutrition programs for low-income families and children, the Women, Infants and Children food program (WIC), the Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program, and the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), all of which received increases, faired reasonably well in both the House and Senate committee versions of the Agriculture appropriations bill. Labor-HHS While some areas like Head Start, child care, and after-school programs received modest increases in the Labor-HHS appropriations bills (passed by the Senate committee and will be before the full House appropriations committee on May 24th at 10:00 am), the Social Services Block Grant (SSGB-Title XX), welfare block grant, and welfare-to-work funding received major cuts. The Senate used about $4.5 billion in offsets to State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), TANF, and other programs, to add some money to its overall allocation. It is unfortunate that the added resources to the overall Labor-HHS appropriations bill come at the cost of cuts to low-income programs, especially given the huge anticipated budget surpluses. The Social Services Block Grant was especially hard hit, receiving the single largest cut in its history. The Social Services Block Grant funds child protection and treatment services for abused and neglected children, programs for persons with disabilities, the elderly, at-risk youth, and victims of domestic violence. Specifically, it was a little less than level funded in the House version, but cut by $1.1 billion, down to only $600 million, in the Senate version. One argument for the draconian cuts in the SSBG was made by Chairman Spector (R-PA) who proposed that states could use their tobacco settlement funds to make up the difference. Of course, there is no requirement that they do so. Another argument is that states can use their TANF (state welfare block grant) funds, but states are restricted to certain populations in the use of those funds. There are likely to be many riders. For example, Rep. Anne Northrup (R-KY) is planning to offer an amendment to prohibit OSHA from spending any funds to proceed with the ergonomic standard at the Department of Labor. The President has threatened to veto both the House and Senate versions of the Labor-HHS bills. For more information about cuts to children’s programs and the offsets, see the Children’s Defense Fund analysis. VA-HUD Apparently, the VA-HUD appropriations is intended to serve the purpose that Labor-HHS served during last year’s appropriation process -– the scapegoat bill for which there is not enough money to go around, hence the last to be decided. The allocation is about $400 million less than last year, with increases scheduled for VA Medical Science and NASA, so it is likely that low-income housing programs, and possibly EPA, will take the cuts. Other Bills Among other appropriations bills this season, the Interior bill has been marked up by the House subcommittee and contains large cuts reflecting the reduced 302(b) allocation -- from $16.4 billion last year down to $14.7 billion for FY 2001. The Senate repudiated the huge cuts made by the House to spending areas in the legislative branch spending bill, by making large increase in funds to the Capitol Police and much smaller increases for agencies like the Government Printing Office, General Accounting Office, Library of Congress, and Architect of the Capitol. The CQ Daily Monitor reported on Friday that disputes between Majority Leader Lott (R-MS) and Minority Leader Daschle (D-SD) over procedural issues all but brought the appropriations process to a halt in the Senate this week.

• CHN Side-by-Side Comparison of House and Senate Labor-HHS appropriation
• Comparison of Department of Education Appropriations - PDF file

Back to Top Supplemental Spending Bill Gets Piecemealed Parts of the President’s Supplemental spending bill for FY 2000 ($13.2 billion) are being added in dribs and drabs to FY 2001 appropriations bills by the Senate; so far $4.7 billion in FY 2000 spending to the FY 2001 military construction appropriation for Kosovo peacekeeping; $934 million to Columbia to battle against drug traffickers in the FY 2001 foreign operations bill; and $2 billion for disaster relief and emergency farm assistance in the FY 2001 agriculture appropriation. Back to Top Public Access to Government Information Program Drastically Cut As noted in the last OMB Watcher Online, on May 9th, the full House Appropriations Committee voted to make major cuts to the Government Printing Office's (GPO) printing functions, funded under the Legislative Branch FY 2001 Appropriations bill. Especially hard hit was the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The FDLP provides federal government information to some 1,400 libraries throughout the country. In return they provide free public access. Republicans on the Committee argued that the program could make savings by moving to be a totally electronic program -- despite the fact that thousands of publications in the program are not in electronic form and will not be since many of them are maps, reports and other publications not suitable for electronic format. Of the nearly 40,000 titles made available through the program, approximately 25,000 are available in print only. This decision is made by the issuing agencies, not the GPO. The House Committee's action would mean that depository libraries would not get paper copies of such documents as the US Code, Federal Register, Congressional Record, CFR, hearings, reports, documents, Census, Smithsonian publications and many other publications -- even though, in many cases, these are the official, authentic versions of these documents. In an age when public access to these electronic documents is susceptible to a broad range of problems -- from assurance of permanent availability to vulnerability to computer viruses -- continued access in print formats remains absolutely essential. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress (LC) as well as the Copyright Office are also targeted to be cut. Democrats fighting these cuts contended that CRS would be cut by 114 employees, greatly harming congressional research. The Copyright Office would lose about 130 of their 520 employees and GPO would be cut by 435 employees, with almost 20% of those being skilled information and library specialists and distribution personnel. In contrast, the Senate Appropriations Committee, on Thursday, May 18th, approved a legislative branch spending bill that would increase spending slightly. The majority of this increase would go to the Capitol Police with a tiny percentage directed towards the GPO, LC, and the General Accounting Office (GAO). The full House is scheduled for floor action this week. Back to Top Community Technology Centers On May 10, the House and Senate Subcommittees on Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations did their markup of the FY 2001 appropriations for the Department of Education, under which the federal Community Technology Centers (CTC) program rests. The House Subcommittee recommended current-level funding for CTC at $32.5 million and the Senate subcommittee recommended $62.5 million. The full table showing the House and Senate Subcommittee amounts for the Department of Education programs is available online in Adobe PDF format. The House mark identifies CTCs as an unauthorized program. Though regularly violated, the rule is that Congress is not supposed to appropriate funds to programs that have no authorization. The Clinton administration will continue to push for $100 million for the CTC program. A public interest coalition, chaired by OMB Watch, is advocating for the $100 million.

• To join the coalition (scroll down to CTC)
• For more information about CTCs

Back to Top A-130 Revision Comments As reported in the April 24th OMB Watcher Online, OMB has proposed revisions to OMB Circular A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources, which is the primary policy document for the executive branch in the areas of information resources and technology management and information policy. OMB Watch has submitted comments on the proposed revisions focusing on revisions affecting access to information about the government. Back to Top New Bills Seek Campaign Contribution Disclosure From Nonprofits New legislation introduced in both the House and Senate would require disclosure from a type of nonprofit organization that has been called a "Stealth PAC". These are nonprofit organizations created under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code and have the primary purpose of issue advocacy surrounding elections. Unlike 501(c)(4) organizations, which also participate in issue advocacy, 527 organizations are not required to publicly disclose any financial records, or even their existence. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) has introduced legislation (H.R. 4168) that would require 527 organizations to disclose to the IRS their name, address, financial information, and the name and address of "any person which is directly or indirectly related to or affiliated with" the organization. It also requires disclosure of contributions (similar to that required by the Federal Election Committee for donors to candidates) as well as a legal certification that the contribution was not made at the request or suggestion of any candidate. These disclosure statements would have to be available to the public at the organization's address, and would also have to be provided by mail (these rules are similar to those for the tax documents of 501(c)(4) organizations). If an organization fails to file with the IRS, they can be fined up to $50,000. It can be further fined up to $10,000 for failing to respond to a public request for the information. In the Senate, two bills addressing 527 organizations have just been introduced by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). The first of these bills (S. 2582) would require 527 organizations to comply with existing federal campaign law. The second bill (S. 2583) is similar to Doggett's in that it would require 527 organizations to register with the IRS, publicly file tax returns and provide for some disclosure of contributions and expenditures. In a press statement, Lieberman acknowledged that it is unlikely that the first bill will pass, and called the second bill a "more pragmatic" alternative. This is a telling statement of the power of 527 organizations in the campaign system. Back to Top Anti-Nonprofit Language Dies a Quick Death During the May 11th House debate on the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 701), Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) offered an amendment which would have placed restrictions on grants given to nonprofits under this bill. The amendment would have barred nonprofits from receiving any money for purposes of public education from state fish and wildlife agencies. The amendment also would have barred nonprofits from receiving any funds under the act to purchase conservation easements. After a ten minute debate, the amendment failed in a voice vote. While the amendment was offered by Buyer, there is speculation that he did so at the suggestion of Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN), who has a history of attacks on nonprofits, including attempts to keep employees of federal grantees from running in partisan elections. Back to Top Tech Help: IM What IM? Instant messaging (IM) is one of the most popular communications tools for Internet users around the world, with as many as 80 million users generating 500 million messages a day. The technology, a mixture of message boards, chat rooms, and pager technology, provides a quick way to target information to specific users when they are most likely to respond to it. But is IM useful for nonprofits, and if so, how? Visit NPTalk to find out. Back to Top Tech Help: Tech The Money and Run Looking for some places to start relative to nonprofit technology funding? Maybe you want to fundraise online, but aren't sure how to begin? Do you know about e-commerce opportunities that might be helpful to your nonprofit? You could make other nonprofits green with envy, if you check out these resources on NPTalk. Subscribe to NPTalk Your comments are always welcomed! Notes and Sidebars Online Survey Take approximately one minute to help OMB Watch determine the best way to encourage increased public policy participation and civic engagement. Fill out our online survey and let us know what you think of the Watcher, what your interests are, and what motivated you -- or would motivate you -- to get involved in the democratic process. A New Coalition The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support is a new national coalition of grassroots groups in 65 cities and 35 states that have joined together to advance an anti-poverty agenda over the next few years. This coalition plans to take advantage of the 2002 reauthorization of the federal welfare law and other anti-poverty programs to push for increased domestic support for low-income Americans. For more information, visit the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support web site. Women's Leadership Conference The Women's Learning Partnership will be convening a symposium, "Cultural Boundaries & Cyber Spaces: Innovative Tools and Strategies for Strengthening Women's Leadership in Muslim Societies," on June 1st in New York City. The symposium will provide a forum for women to discuss ways of building leadership capability through culturally sensitive strategies using innovative tools and modern technology. For more information and a list of speakers, visit the Women's Learning Partnership web site. Digital Divide Grants The Corporation for National Service has announced the availability of funds for AmeriCorps State and National, and Learn and Serve K-12 School-based grants that support efforts to help overcome the digital divide and provide digital opportunities. Nonprofits are encouraged to apply. The deadline is July 25th. For more information, visit the Corporation for National Service web site. Tell Your Story Idealist.org is looking for stories to post on their web site that draw attention to the work that people and organizations are doing in their communities in an effort to inspire more positive action and creativity. They are looking for stories, already mentioned in local newspapers or newsletters, about people and organizations that took the initiative, collaborated with others, and got something done. To contribute, or read other's stories, visit Idealist.org.