THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY GOODMAN, BROWNLEE, CALTAGIRONE, COHEN, DALEY, HESS, HORNAMAN, KNOWLES, KORTZ, MAHONEY, MILLER, NEILSON, PASHINSKI, SCHMOTZER AND WILLIAMS, OCTOBER 17, 2012

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, OCTOBER 17, 2012  

AN ACT

Amending the act of December 19, 1990 (P.L.1200, No.202),

entitled "An act providing for the registration and

regulation of solicitations by charitable organizations,

professional fundraisers and other solicitors; imposing

additional powers on the Department of State and the Office

of Attorney General; prescribing civil and criminal

penalties; and making a repeal," further providing for

information filed to become public records.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 11 of the act of December 19, 1990

(P.L.1200, No.202), known as the Solicitation of Funds for

Charitable Purposes Act, is amended to read:

Section 11.  Information filed to become public records.

(a)  General rule.--Except as otherwise provided in section

12, registration statements and applications, reports, notices,

contracts or agreements between charitable organizations and

professional fundraising counsel, professional solicitors and

commercial conventurers, and all other documents and information

required to be filed under this act with the department shall be

filed electronically and become public records in the office of

the bureau and shall be open to the general public at such time

and under such conditions as the department may prescribe and

shall be made available to the general public without charge

through a searchable database on the department's publicly

accessible Internet website.

(b)  Duty of secretary.--The secretary shall develop an

electronic filing system for all documents and information

required to be filed with the department under this act. The

system shall be operational no later than January 1, 2014.

(c)  Restricted account.--The Solicitation of Funds for

Charitable Purposes Account is established as a restricted

account within the General Fund. All of the following fees shall

be deposited into the account and shall be used exclusively for

the purpose of establishing and maintaining the searchable

database and electronic filing system required by this section:

(1)  The annual registration fees for charitable

organizations under section 5(p).

(2)  The late filing fees for charitable organizations

under section 5(q).

(3)  The annual registration fees for professional

fundraising counsels under section 8(b).

(4)  The annual registration fees for professional

solicitors under section 9(b).

(5)  The contract filing fee for professional solicitors

under section 9(e).

Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.