Letter in support of legislation ensuring effective implementation of the Non-Profit Revitalization Act of 2013

SUMMARY

The Non-Profit Organizations Committee (Robert Pigott, Chair) wrote a letter in support of State legislation which would make technical amendments to the Non-Profit Revitalization Act (NPRA).  The NPRA was enacted in 2013 and supported by the Committee because it remedied many of the weaknesses in New York’s archaic and needlessly burdensome nonprofit laws.  Last year, the Committee joined with the Law Revision Commission, Lawyers Alliance of New York, New York State Bar Association and Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York to suggest revisions to the NPRA that would address certain ambiguities in the law that complicate compliance and enforcement and which would alleviate burdens on nonprofits counterproductive to the expressed goal of the NPRA to encourage nonprofits to form in New York rather than in other states. The proposed legislation currently pending before the Legislature is responsive to many of the reforms suggested by the group, including: eliminating the requirement of board approval for a related party transaction if the transaction is de minimis or in the ordinary course of business; removing the unnecessary requirement that only independent directors oversee conflict of interest transactions or whistleblower complaints, while strengthening the more important requirement that a director not vote on a transaction in which he or she has an interest or review a complaint in which he or she has any involvement; and removing unnecessary obstacles placed on nonprofit boards’ ability to work efficiently and effectively through the delegation of matters to committees composed of qualified and knowledgeable individuals.

BILL INFORMATION

A.10365-B (AM Brennan) / S.7913-B (Sen. Ranzenhofer) – relates to the reform of charitable corporations and trust governance; repealer (NYS 2016)

OUTCOME

Signed by the Governor, Chp. 466 – November 28, 2016