Advocacy

The Federal Tax Authority, a private company working to launch a service to assist online sellers in collecting and remitting local and state sales tax, has created yes5660.com, an online petition that consumers and retailers can sign in support of the Main Street Fairness Act.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is offering aspiring writers a chance to win a trip to the October 21 - 23 Florida International University/Books & Books International Writers Conference in the Cayman Islands.

Changing Hands co-owner Gayle Shanks has spoken out against Arizona's new immigration law, and her customers are largely supportive.

This week, the American Booksellers Association, Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, and Southern California Independent Booksellers Association reached out to their respective California members in support of an e-fairness provision in California's proposed budget. The groups urged their bookseller members to contact their lawmakers and to ask them to support the sales tax fairness provision.

This week, ABA CEO Oren Teicher wrote to Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, to urge him to refocus his office’s recently announced inquiry into agreements between the industry’s major publishers and Amazon.com and Apple, Inc.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher recently sent a Letter to the Editor of The New Republic in response to Senior Editor Ruth Franklin's piece "In Defense of Amazon."

 The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is urging ABA members to join with hundreds of other bookstores and libraries across the country to publicize attacks against the freedom to read by participating in Banned Books Week, this year from September 25 – October 2.

This morning, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Rep. William Delahunt joined with a bipartisan group of state lawmakers and small business owners to urge passage of the Main Street Fairness Act (H.R. 5660).

On Wednesday, July 21, President Obama signed into law a sweeping financial reform bill that, among other changes, would regulate swipe fees charged by banks for debit-card transactions.

This week, ABA CEO Oren Teicher thanked Rep. William Delahunt for introducing the Main Street Fairness Act, and he encouraged booksellers nationwide to write to their legislators to express support for the bill.

On Tuesday, July 13, a coalition including the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, Harvard Book Store, and Porter Square Books filed suit to block a broad Massachusetts censorship law that bans constitutionally protected speech on the Internet.

Rep. William Delahunt has introduced the Main Street Fairness Act, which would authorize the 24 states that are part of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require remote retailers to collect and remit sales tax on orders in their states.

ABA is asking member booksellers in the states that collect sales tax but that do not currently have e-fairness laws to urge both gubernatorial and state legislative candidates to make sales tax fairness a part of their agenda.

The Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP) and other civil liberties advocates were heartened to learn last week that U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine has agreed to a request from Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to conduct a new investigation regarding how the government is using USA Patriot Act domestic surveillance powers.

After Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that an agreement had been reached among Senate and House leaders that regulations on swipe fees would remain in proposed financial reform legislation, bankers began bombarding Congress in opposition.