ENROLLED
H. B. 2023
(By Delegates Jenkins, Amores and Kime)
[Passed February 17, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section five, article nineteen,
chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
the registration of charitable organizations with the office
of the secretary of state; authorizing the secretary of
state to extend the due date for the annual filing of a
registration statement or report; imposing a late filing
fee; setting forth limitations on such fee; and payment of
late filing fee into charitable organization fund.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article nineteen, chapter twenty-nine of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 19. SOLICITATION OF CHARITABLE FUNDS ACT.
§29-19-5. Registration of charitable organizations; fee.
(a) Every charitable organization, except as provided in
section six of this article, which intends to solicit contributions within this state or to have funds solicited on its
behalf shall, prior to any solicitation, file a registration
statement with the secretary of state upon forms prescribed by
him or her, which shall be good for one full year and which shall
be refiled in the next and each following year in which such
charitable organization is engaged in solicitation activities.
If an organization discontinues solicitation at any time after
its last registration filing, then it must file a registration
statement reflecting its activities during its last fiscal year
in which solicitation in West Virginia took place. It shall be
the duty of the president, chairman or principal officer of such
charitable organization to file the statements required under
this article. Such statements shall be sworn to and shall
contain the following information:
(1) The name of the organization and the purpose for which
it was organized;
(2) The principal address of the organization and the
address of any offices in this state. If the organization does
not maintain an office, the name and address of the person having
custody of its financial records;
(3) The names and addresses of any chapters, branches or
affiliates in this state;
(4) The place where and the date when the organization was
legally established, the form of its organization;
(5) The names and addresses of the officers, directors,
trustees and the principal salaried executive staff officer;
(6) A copy of a balance sheet and a statement or report of
income and expenses for the organization's immediately preceding
fiscal year, or a financial statement reporting information
showing the kind and amount of funds raised during the preceding
fiscal year, the costs and expenses incidental thereto and
showing how the funds were disbursed or allocated for the same
fiscal year: Provided, That for organizations raising more than
fifty thousand dollars per year in contributions, the balance
sheet and income and expense statement, or financial statement
provided, shall be audited by an independent public accountant.
Organizations are required to report the amount of money raised
in the state and the amount spent in the state for charitable
purposes;
(7) A copy of any determination of the organization's tax
exempt status under the provisions of 26 U.S.C. §501(c)(3) and a
copy of the last filed Internal Revenue Service form 990 and
Schedule A for every charitable organization and any parent
organization;
(8) Whether the organization intends to solicit
contributions from the public directly or have such done on its
behalf by others;
(9) Whether the organization is authorized by any other
governmental authority to solicit contributions and whether it is
or has ever been enjoined by any court from soliciting
contributions;
(10) The general purpose or purposes for which the contributions to be solicited shall be used;
(11) The name or names under which it intends to solicit
contributions;
(12) The names of the individuals or officers of the
organization who will have final responsibility for the custody
of the contributions;
(13) The names of the individuals or officers of the
organization responsible for the final distribution of the
contributions; and
(14) Copies of all contract documentation from professional
fund-raising counsels and professional solicitors as provided for
in subsection (d), section seven of this article.
(b) Each chapter, branch or affiliate, except an independent
member agency of a federated fund-raising organization, may
separately report the information required by this section, or
report the information to its parent organization which shall
then furnish such information as to its West Virginia affiliates,
chapters and branches in a consolidated form to the secretary of
state. An independent member agency of a federated fund-raising
organization, as hereinbefore defined, shall comply with the
provisions of this article independently. Each organization
shall file a separate registration form for each name under which
funds will be solicited.
(c) The registration forms and any other documents
prescribed by the secretary of state shall be signed by an
authorized officer or by an independent public accountant and by the chief fiscal officer of the charitable organization and shall
be verified under oath.
(d) Every charitable organization collecting less than one
million dollars during any year which submits an independent
registration to the secretary of state shall pay an annual
registration fee of fifteen dollars; every charitable
organization collecting more than one million dollars during one
year which submits an independent registration to the secretary
of state shall pay an annual registration fee of fifty dollars;
a parent organization filing on behalf of one or more chapters,
branches or affiliates or a single organization filing under
different names shall pay a single annual registration fee of
fifty dollars for itself and such chapters, branches or
affiliates included in the registration statement.
(e) For good cause shown, the secretary of state may extend
the due date for the annual filing of a registration statement or
report for a period not to exceed ninety days. During such
period, the previously filed registration statement or report of
the charitable organization which has been granted the extension
shall remain in effect.
(f) In addition to the registration fee required by this
section, a charitable organization which fails to file a
registration statement or report by the original or extended due
date therefor as required by this section shall, for each month
or part of the month thereafter in which the same is not filed,
pay an additional fee of twenty-five dollars: Provided, That the total amount of such additional fees for a registration statement
or report required to be filed in any one year shall not exceed
five hundred dollars. Any such additional fees received shall be
paid into the charitable organization fund established pursuant
to the provisions of section fifteen-b of this article.