[EL] ALEC Tax Status

[Ellen Aprill]

I have spent some time on the NCSL and Uniform Law Commission websites as
well as searching for them on Guidestar.  Neither appears to be a c-3 ---
my guess is that they are each a government consortium under section 115 of
the Code.  (I have written two too long and detailed articles on section
115). These governmental organizations are not subject to the strictures of
c-3.

Both do have foundations, which are registered as c-3's.  It is a bit
difficult for me to tell, whether from the websites or the Forms 990, just
what the foundations do.   The limited access to the NCSL foundation does
trouble me.

  Ellen

On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 4:18 PM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:

>  This is very helpful and useful.  Does NCSL have "members" who are
> legislators the way ALEC does?  Is it permissible for a c3 to have
> legislator members who help further the c3's goals?
>
> On 4/13/12 3:54 PM, David Mason wrote:
>
> Drafting model legislation, which is count #1 in the linked post, is a
> permissible tax exempt activity.  Drafting is not lobbying.  The post also
> claims ALEC "are lobbying in state capitals across the country," whiich
> likely confuses ALEC (which does not have staff in most (if any) state
> capitols) with ALEC Members who are themselves legislators.
>
> As far as corporations buying access, consider this statement from the
> NCSL web site (
> http://www.ncsl.org/about-us/ncslservice/ncsl-foundation-sponsor-documents.aspx
> ):
>
>  NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures: Sponsors' Documents
>
> One of the benefits to sponsoring the NCSL Foundation for State
> Legislatures is the ability to post position papers on the NCSL website.
> These papers are restricted and searchable to all members that have a user
> name and password. We encourage all of our sponsors to take advantage of
> the ability to make your organization's views known to our constituents.
>
>  Let me be clear, I have no beef with NCSL or the NCSL Foundation, but
> when ALEC is attacked for issuing model legislation (which NCSL also does),
> or for providing favored access for corporate funders (See immediately
> above), but the same folks are not in a lather to "expose" NCSL, you can
> see why the attacks on ALEC appear simply ideological, rather than
> motivated by a genuine concern about tax policy.
>
>
>
> Dave Mason
>
>
>
>>   Common Cause Says ALEC is Violating Its 501c3 Status<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32948>
>> Posted on April 13, 2012 8:41 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=32948> by Rick
>> Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>
>> I’m no tax lawyer, but on its face this looks like
>> <http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=7550265>a
>> reasonable point. A c3 cannot engage in substantial lobbying and
>> legislation is necessary to achieve its ends.
>>
>> What am I missing?  (And I concede I may be missing something—I’m way
>> outside my comfort zone here.)
>>
>>
>>  [image: Share]<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D32948&title=Common%20Cause%20Says%20ALEC%20is%20Violating%20Its%20501c3%20Status&description=>
>>   Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax
>> law and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
> http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
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-- 
Ellen P. Aprill
John E. Anderson Professor of Tax Law
Loyola Law School
919 Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-736-1157
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