HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSN for HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSN
What was lobbied
3 issue areas, each in the filer's own words, with who lobbied on it and where.
Taxation/Internal Revenue Code TAX
Support of provisions in S. 306, the Enhancing Education Opportunities for All Students Act, which will allow homeschool families to use the Coverdell Education Savings Account for homeschool k-12 expenses. Currently, federal law only allows families to use the Coverdell Education Savings Accounts for "public and private school expenses," and S. 306 would allow families to use Coverdell Education Savings Accounts for homeschool expenses, as well as public and private school expenses. Opposition to Proposed IRS regulations concerning optional social security number collection from donors to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations out of concern that this could chill donations to charities, and that it may lead to mandatory social security number collection. The proposed regulations were published on September 17, 2015, under IRS Docket Number IRS-2015-0049. We notified our membership about our concerns and urged public comments in opposition to the regulations in December of 2015. The Proposed Regulations were withdrawn by the IRS in January of 2016.
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| WILLIAM ANTHONY ESTRADA | — |
| ANDREW WILLIAM MULLINS | — |
Family issues/Abortion/Adoption FAM
Speaking with staff and Members about the dangers of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Speaking with staff and Members about the dangers of the U.N. Convention On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Speaking with staff and Members about the dangers of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. All these treaties threaten parental rights, homeschool freedom, and US sovereignty. Meetings with Members of House and Senate and their staff to urge them to support the Parental Rights Amendment. It was introduced in the 113th Congress in the House as H.J.Res. 50, and in the Senate as S.J.Res. 37. The Amendment would preserve the right of parents to direct the education, upbringing, and care of their children.
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| WILLIAM ANTHONY ESTRADA | — |
| ANDREW WILLIAM MULLINS New | — |
Education EDU
Protection of home education from government regulation - meetings with Members of Congress and their staff to talk about homeschooling success and to ask Congress to "leave us alone." Meetings with Members of Congress and staff about protecting homeschool freedom in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, in the House, and S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act, in the Senate. We urged Congress to include the protective language for homeschools already codified in 20 U.S.C. 7886. This language was included, as well as language protecting state autonomy in certain education decisions, including over whether or not to adopt the Common Core. HSLDA is supportive of these sections giving states local control over education, and is neutral on H.R. 5 and S. 1177 overall. When the final bill came out, the Every Student Succeeds Act, all of our language was included in the final bill, and we notified Members of Congress and the public about this, but HSLDA remained neutral on the overall bill. Opposition to the Common Core State Standards Initiative ("Common Core") due to the federal coercion on states to adopt the Common Core, and also due to the Common Core moving to nationalize education. Briefing Members of Congress and their staff about our concerns. Asking Members on the House and Senate Appropriations Committee to defund any federal funding for Common Core, as well as fully defund Race to the Top. HSLDA also strongly opposes more federal involvement in early education, and continues to meet with Members of Congress and their staff to oppose any expansion in this area in the House and Senate ESEA reauthorization Conference Report. HSLDA also fought for student privacy in the annual National Defense Authorization Act in the House, H.R. 1735. Section 574 in the House NDAA included a provision directing the DOD to conduct a feasibility study on whether the DOD should track children of DOD military and civilian employees by where they are educated. HSLDA believes that this will threaten the privacy of homeschool families in the military. We opposed Section 574, and were successful in keeping it out of the Senate's version of the NDAA. We defeated Section 574 in the Conference Report. We continued to monitor this and discuss it with House and Senate Members and Staff as the bill went through Congress and was signed into law.
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| WILLIAM ANTHONY ESTRADA | — |
| ANDREW WILLIAM MULLINS New | — |
Shown as published by the Senate Office of Public Records and the House Clerk under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. The official filing is the record; open it for the full form.