Advocacy

On June 7, the same day Amazon.com opened its shareholders meeting in Seattle, the Alliance for Main Street Fairness ran full-page newspaper ads decrying the online retailers attempt to evade its obligation to collect and remit sales tax in states where it has nexus.

On Thursday, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a proposed budget that contained a sales tax fairness provision. However, the sales tax fairness campaign in the state is not over. In vetoing the budget, Gov. Brown did not single out the sales tax fairness provision as a contibuting factor.

On Monday, June 13, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved legislation that would require remote retailers with online affiliates in the state to collect and remit sales tax for orders made by Louisiana residents.

In a major victory for retailers, on Wednesday, June 9, the U.S. Senate rejected legislation that would have delayed the implementation of reforms that reduce swipe fees by ensuring that they are “reasonable and proportional” to the actual cost of processing a transaction.

At a lively and thought-provoking BookExpo America panel, two bestselling authors and two nationally noted free speech advocates presented an overview and a frontline account of the tactics and trends of contemporary book banning.

ABA has created a template letter that booksellers can use to urge their legislators to oppose any attempt to delay debit card swipe fee reform set to take effect in July.

On Wednesday, June 1, the Performance Marketing Association, a trade association of online affiliates and large online retailers — including Amazon.com — filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Illinois’ affiliate nexus law.

While California and Louisiana moved sales tax fairness bills forward this week, Texas and South Carolina blinked in their showdowns with Amazon.com.

ABA and other members of the Campaign for Reader Privacy expressed disappointment at last week’s decision by Congress to reauthorize expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act without restoring safeguards to protect the privacy of bookstore and library records.

Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, long-time member of the Media Coalition, and member and chair of the Board of the National Coalition Against Censorship, has been named the recipient of the American Library Association’s 2011 Freedom to Read Foundation  Roll of Honor Award.

The campaign for sales tax fairness has heated up in key states where Amazon.com has or is planning to open warehouse or distribution facilities.

ABA has joined with eight organizations, including the Main Street Alliance and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, in asking Congressional leadership to oppose any attempt to delay swipe fee reform, which is set to take effect in July.

ABA is urging booksellers to immediately contact members of the U.S. House of Representatives to oppose a bill that extends provisions of the USA Patriot Act for six years without restoring safeguards to protect the privacy of bookstore and library records.

From May 2 to May 4, ABA President Michael Tucker and President-elect Becky Anderson, together with association CEO Oren Teicher and COO Len Vlahos, met with 14 publishers in New York City.

Sales tax fairness successes continued this week as an attempt to repeal a sales tax fairness law in Colorado failed and the Texas Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed sales tax fairness legislation.