[EL] ALEC Tax Status (NCSL Foundation role)

Fri Apr 13 20:17:43 PDT 2012

The work, tax status and funding methods for NCSL's foundation is right
there on the website: 

http://www.ncsl.org/about-us.aspx?tabs=1027,82,570

The Foundation is dedicated to building public trust and confidence in
representative democracy through public outreach and education, ethics in
government and strengthening state legislatures. The Foundation supports the
<http://www.ncsl.org/Default.aspx?TabID=746&tabs=1116,87,245#1116> Trust for
Representative Democracy, the
<http://www.ncsl.org/legislatureselections/tabid/746/default.aspx?tabs=1116,
87,245> Center for Ethics in Government and the
<http://www.ncsl.org/legislatureselections/tabid/746/default.aspx?tabs=1116,
83,197> Women's Legislative Network.

(Each of the colored phrases is a link to the mentioned organization.)

- Doug

Douglas Johnson

Fellow

Rose Institute of State and Local Government

m 310-200-2058

o 909-621-8159

douglas.johnson at cmc.edu

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Ellen
Aprill
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 5:27 PM
To: Rick Hasen
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] ALEC Tax Status

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.)

<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%
3Fp%3D32948&title=Common%20Cause%20Says%20ALEC%20is%20Violating%20Its%20501c
3%20Status&description=> Share

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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
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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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