Amendment ID: S1878-9

Amendment 9

Professional Solicitors

Messrs. Ross and Tarr move to amend the bill by striking out section 17 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

SECTION 17. Section 28 of chapter 68 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following subsections:-

(f) No person or organization shall claim to be a representative of a veterans’ charitable organization with the intent to solicit contributions that benefit or profit any person or organization other than the qualified veterans’ charitable organization. All solicitations by professional solicitors and all solicitations by commercial co-venturers must, prior to orally requesting a contribution, and at the same time at which a written request for a contribution is made, clearly and conspicuously disclose the following information to the person being solicited: (1) the true name of the individual making the solicitation; (2) the statement that the solicitation is being conducted by a “paid fund-raiser”; (3) the true name of the person who is employing and compensating the individual making the solicitation if the individual is employed for compensation to make the solicitation; (4) the true name, address and telephone number of the charitable organization for whom the solicitation is being made; (5) a description of how the contributions raised by the solicitation will be utilized for charitable purposes, or if there is no charitable organization, the name, address and telephone number of the professional solicitor or commercial co-venturer and a description of how the contributions raised by the solicitation will be utilized for charitable purposes; (6)  the guaranteed minimum percentage of the gross receipts from fund-raising that will be utilized exclusively for the charitable purposes described in the solicitation and the percentage of the funds solicited that are spent on the cost of fundraising; (7) such other disclosures as required by relevant rules and regulations promulgated under Section 29 of Chapter 68. For purposes of this section, costs of fundraising shall include all money directly expended on fundraising and that portion of all administrative expenses and salaries of the charitable organization to fundraising activities.

(g) No more than fifty percent of charitable donations shall be spent on professional solicitors or solicitations by commercial co-venturers.

(h) Any person or organization who knowingly violates this section, or who willfully or knowingly gives false or incorrect information to the division in filing statements or reports, whether such report or statement is verified or not, may be fined not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.