Connecticut 2021 Regular Session

Connecticut House Bill HB06217 Compare Versions

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7	7		General Assembly Committee Bill No. 6217
8	8		January Session, 2021
9	9		LCO No. 4314
10	10
11	11
12	12		Referred to Committee on GENERAL LAW
13	13
14	14
15	15		Introduced by:
16	16		(GL)
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18	18
19	19
20	20		AN ACT INCREASING TRANSPARENCY FOR CHARI TABLE
21	21		ORGANIZATIONS.
22	22		Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
23	23		Assembly convened:
24	24
25	25		Section 1. Section 21a-190a of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
26	26		following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January 1, 2022): 2
27	27		As used in sections 21a-190a to 21a-190l, inclusive: 3
28	28		(1) "Charitable organization" means any person who is or holds 4
29	29		himself or herself out to be established for any benevolent, educational, 5
30	30		philanthropic, humane, scientific, patriotic, social welfare or advocacy, 6
31	31		public health, environmental conservation, civic or eleemosynary 7
32	32		purpose, or for the benefit of law enforcement officers, firefighters or 8
33	33		other persons who protect the public safety. 9
34	34		(2) "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited liability 10
35	35		company, association, partnership, trust, foundation or any other entity 11
36	36		however styled. 12
37		-	(3) "Solicit" and "solicitation" mean any request directly or indirectly 13 Committee Bill No. 6217
	37	+	(3) "Solicit" and "solicitation" mean any request directly or indirectly 13
	38	+	for money, credit, property, financial assistance or other thing of any 14
	39	+	Committee Bill No. 6217
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44		-	for money, credit, property, financial assistance or other thing of any 14
45	44		kind or value on the plea or representation that such money, credit, 15
46	45		property, financial assistance or other thing of any kind or value is to be 16
47	46		used for a charitable purpose or benefit a charitable organization. 17
48	47		"Solicit" and "solicitation" [shall include] includes, but [shall] is not [be] 18
49	48		limited to, the following methods of requesting or securing such money, 19
50	49		credit, property, financial assistance or other thing of value: (A) Any oral 20
51	50		or written request; (B) any announcement to the press, over the radio or 21
52	51		television or by telephone or telegraph concerning an appeal or 22
53	52		campaign by or for any charitable organization or purpose; (C) the 23
54	53		distribution, circulation, posting or publishing of any handbill, written 24
55	54		advertisement or other publication; (D) the sale of, offer or attempt to 25
56	55		sell, any advertisement, advertising space, book, card, tag, coupon, 26
57	56		device, magazine, membership, merchandise, subscription, flower, 27
58	57		ticket, candy, cookies or other tangible item in connection with an 28
59	58		appeal made for any charitable organization or purpose, or where the 29
60	59		name of any charitable organization is used or referred to in any such 30
61	60		appeal as an inducement or reason for making any such sale, or when 31
62	61		or where in connection with any such sale, any statement is made that 32
63	62		the whole or any part of the proceeds from any such sale is to be used 33
64	63		for any charitable purpose or benefit any charitable organization. A 34
65	64		solicitation shall be deemed to have taken place whether or not the 35
66	65		person making the same receives any contribution. 36
67	66		(4) "Charitable purpose" means any benevolent, educational, 37
68	67		philanthropic, humane, scientific, patriotic, social welfare or advocacy, 38
69	68		public health, environmental conservation, civic or eleemosynary 39
70	69		objective. 40
71	70		(5) "Contribution" means the grant, promise or pledge of money, 41
72	71		credit, property, financial assistance or other thing of any kind or value 42
73	72		in response to a solicitation. "Contribution" [shall] does not include bona 43
74	73		fide fees, dues or assessments paid by members, provided membership 44
75	74		is not conferred solely as consideration for making a contribution in 45
76		-	response to a solicitation. 46 Committee Bill No. 6217
	75	+	response to a solicitation. 46
	76	+	Committee Bill No. 6217
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83	81		(6) "Fund-raising counsel" means a person who for compensation 47
84	82		plans, manages, advises or consults with respect to the solicitation in 48
85	83		this state of contributions by a charitable organization, but who does not 49
86	84		solicit contributions and who does not directly or indirectly employ, 50
87	85		procure or engage any person compensated to solicit contributions. A 51
88	86		bona fide nontemporary salaried officer or employee of a charitable 52
89	87		organization shall not be deemed to be a fund-raising counsel. 53
90	88		(7) "Paid solicitor" means a person who for any consideration, other 54
91	89		than any nonmonetary gift of nominal value awarded to a volunteer 55
92	90		solicitor as an incentive or token of appreciation, performs for a 56
93	91		charitable organization any service in connection with which 57
94	92		contributions are solicited by such person or by any person he directly 58
95	93		or indirectly employs, procures or engages to solicit for such 59
96	94		compensation. A bona fide nontemporary salaried officer or employee 60
97	95		of a charitable organization shall not be deemed to be a paid solicitor. 61
98	96		(8) "Commercial coventurer" means a person who for profit is 62
99	97		regularly and primarily engaged in trade or commerce in this state other 63
100	98		than in connection with the raising of funds for charitable organizations 64
101	99		or purposes and who conducts a charitable sales promotion. 65
102	100		(9) "Charitable sales promotion" means an advertising or sales 66
103	101		campaign, conducted by a commercial coventurer, which represents 67
104	102		that the purchase or use of goods or services offered by the commercial 68
105	103		coventurer are to benefit a charitable organization or purpose. 69
106	104		(10) "Department" means the Department of Consumer Protection. 70
107	105		(11) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Consumer 71
108	106		Protection. 72
109	107		(12) "Membership" means that which entitles a person to the 73
110	108		privileges, professional standing, honors or other direct benefit of the 74
111	109		organization and the rights to vote, elect officers and hold office in the 75
112		-	organization. 76 Committee Bill No. 6217
	110	+	organization. 76
	111	+	Committee Bill No. 6217
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119	116		(13) "Parent organization" means that part of a charitable 77
120	117		organization which supervises and exercises control over the 78
121	118		solicitation and expenditure activities of one or more chapters, branches 79
122	119		or affiliates. 80
123	120		(14) "Gross revenue" means income of any kind from all sources, 81
124	121		without deduction of any costs or expenses, including all amounts 82
125	122		received as the result of any solicitation by a paid solicitor. 83
126	123		Sec. 2. Section 21a-190b of the general statutes is repealed and the 84
127	124		following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January 1, 2022): 85
128	125		(a) Every charitable organization not exempted by section 21a-190d 86
129	126		shall annually register with the department prior to conducting any 87
130	127		solicitation or prior to having any solicitation conducted on its behalf by 88
131	128		others. Application for registration shall be in a form prescribed by the 89
132	129		commissioner and shall include a nonrefundable application fee of fifty 90
133	130		dollars. Such application shall include: (1) A registration statement, (2) 91
134	131		an annual financial report for such organization for the preceding fiscal 92
135	132		year that is prepared in accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) 93
136	133		of section 21a-190c, and (3) an audited financial statement as required 94
137	134		by subsection (b) of section 21a-190c. An authorized officer of the 95
138	135		organization shall certify that the statements therein are true and correct 96
139	136		to the best of their knowledge. A chapter, branch or affiliate in this state 97
140	137		of a registered parent organization shall not be required to register 98
141	138		provided the parent organization files a consolidated annual 99
142	139		registration for itself and its chapter, branch or affiliate. Each charitable 100
143	140		organization shall annually renew its registration not later than eleven 101
144	141		months after the end of such organization's fiscal year. 102
145	142		(b) In the event the department determines that the application for 103
146	143		registration does not contain the documents required in subsection (a) 104
147	144		of this section or is not in accordance with the regulations adopted by 105
148	145		the commissioner pursuant to this chapter, the department shall notify 106
149	146		the charitable organization of such noncompliance not later than ten 107
150		-	days after the department's receipt of such application for registration. 108 Committee Bill No. 6217
	147	+	days after the department's receipt of such application for registration. 108
	148	+	Committee Bill No. 6217
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157	153		Any such charitable organization may request a hearing on its 109
158	154		noncompliant status in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54. 110
159	155		(c) In addition to the application fee required pursuant to subsection 111
160	156		(a) of this section, a charitable organization shall pay a late fee of twenty-112
161	157		five dollars for each month, or part thereof, that such application for 113
162	158		registration is late. The commissioner may, upon written request and for 114
163	159		good cause shown, waive or reduce any late fee under this section. 115
164	160		(d) In the event that a charitable organization fails to register in 116
165	161		accordance with the provisions of this section, such organization shall 117
166	162		include in its application for registration an annual financial report for 118
167	163		each of the previous years in which such organization was required to 119
168	164		file an application for registration or an annual financial report. 120
169	165		(e) Any charitable organization registered in accordance with this 121
170	166		section on September 30, 2005, shall be deemed to be registered 122
171	167		pursuant to this section until the last day of the fifth month after the 123
172	168		close of the fiscal year in effect on September 30, 2005. 124
173	169		(f) A charitable organization registered in accordance with this 125
174	170		section shall (1) when engaging in solicitation, or upon request from any 126
175	171		person, disclose its registration number and the percentage of funds 127
176	172		collected by such organization in the prior calendar year that directly 128
177	173		funded the charitable purpose of such organization, and (2) display its 129
178	174		registration number in a conspicuous manner on any printed 130
179	175		advertisement. 131
180	176		This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
181	177		sections:
182	178
183	179		Section 1 January 1, 2022 21a-190a
184	180		Sec. 2 January 1, 2022 21a-190b
185	181
186		-	~~GL Joint Favorable~~
	182	+	Committee Bill No. 6217
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	186	+
	187	+	Statement of Purpose:
	188	+	To require charitable organizations to disclose their registration
	189	+	numbers and certain financial information when soliciting funds.
	190	+	[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
	191	+	that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
	192	+	underlined.]
	193	+
	194	+	Co-Sponsors: REP. ACKERT, 8th Dist.; REP. RUTIGLIANO, 123rd Dist.
	195	+
	196	+	H.B. 6217