Advocacy

On September 17, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal published a letter calling for e-fairness from Richard Howorth, the owner of Square Books. The letter was written in response to an article that noted Mississippi is one of 10 states most reliant on sales taxes as a share of revenue.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and five independent bookstores are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in federal court this week challenging a new Arizona criminal law that bans nude images.

ABA is urging booksellers to help make a new social media campaign go viral. The campaign #efairnessnow was launched last week by Advocates for Independent Business.

Advocates for Independent Business is launching the social media campaign #efairnessnow to encourage consumers to show their support for Main Street retailers by posting images on their Facebook and Twitter feeds.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will test the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP Exchanges), the health insurance exchange for small businesses, with a soft launch in late October in Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, and Ohio.

Booksellers are responding enthusiastically to the latest Banned Books Week promotion from Ingram Content Group and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

Barnes & Noble has joined the American Booksellers Association in supporting sales tax fairness by urging Congress not to delay in passing e-fairness legislation in the closing weeks of this legislative session.

Randy Smith, co-owner, with Ann Baumgartle, of Indiana’s Destinations Booksellers, explains in a letter to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression why he thinks it is important to fight censorship and what he’s doing about it.

Booksellers who place orders for 30 or more books from an expanded list of banned or challenged titles before October 3 will receive an additional discount from Ingram, as well as a free “Banned Books Week in a Box” display kit.

Starting August 20, booksellers can view a list of more than 450 banned and challenged titles via Ingram’s ipage®. Orders of 30 or more books per store entitle purchasers to a “Banned Books Week in a Box” display kit and additional discounts on initial and subsequent orders.

On July 29 and 30, retailers from across the country, including ABA President Steve Bercu, gathered in Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Retail Federation’s Retail Advocates Summit to advocate on a number of key policy issues. 

On Tuesday, July 22, two legal challenges to provisions for health care subsidies in the Affordable Care Act resulted in contradictory rulings from federal appeals courts.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has introduced legislation that is a much stronger version of the U.S.A. Freedom Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May.

MLRC Institute, the sister organization of the Media Law Resource Center, will be working with ABFFE to provide speakers for bookstores that are interested in hosting a program about censorship during Banned Books Week (September 21 – 27, 2014).

On Thursday, July 17, in a letter sent to every member of the U.S. Senate, Advocates for Independent Business urged congressional support for the Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act, which was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday, July 15.