May 11, 2021

Good afternoon,

Re:  S4817, a bill to repeal the new executive law that requires nonprofits to submit certain financial  documents with the Department of State and does not protect donor this information from public inspection:

UPDATE as of 5/11 at 3:09 pm
S4817 cleared the Senate Finance Committee this morning! This is a very important step, thank you for your advocacy to make it happen! The bill must now go to the full Senate, and we still need the Assembly Government Operations Committee to take up the bill.

I am again sharing the sample messaging below to help move the bill and to push our legislative targets. However, at this point we also encourage you to please contact all legislators with whom you have a relationship, and the legislators who represent your district(s), to ask if they can co-sponsor the bill. (This shows support and a groundswell of interest in getting the bills done).

State Senate

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Albany Office: 518-455-2585
District Office: 914-423-4031
Email: scousins@nysenate.gov
Twitter: @AndreaSCousins

Senator Elizabeth Krueger (S4817 bill sponsor):
Albany Office: 518-455-2297
District Office: 212-490-9535
Email: lkrueger@nysenate.gov
Twitter: @LizKrueger

State Assembly

Assemblymember Kenneth Zebrowski (Chair of Government Operations):
Albany Office: 518-455-5735
District Office: 845-634-9791
Email: ZebrowskiK@nyassembly.gov
Twitter: @kenzebrowski_ny

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
Albany Office: 518-455-3791
District Office: 718-654-6539
Email: Speaker@nyassembly.gov
Twitter: @CarlHeastie

Assemblymember Amy Paulin (A1141 bill sponsor):
Albany Office: 518-455-5585
District Office: 914-723-1115
Email: paulina@assembly.state.ny.us
Twitter: @AmyPaulin

Sample messaging (phone and email):

Dear [LEGISLATOR],

I am writing to you today from [YOUR ORGANIZATION]. We need S4817 (Krueger) /A1141 (Paulin) passed before May 15th, in order to avoid a redundant new tax filing requirement for nonprofits that we are unprepared for. The DOS’ website tells nonprofits to file by May 15 if their fiscal year ended December 31. This would require us to prepare our annual tax filing 6 months earlier than the IRS requires, and to complete our audit a year earlier than the Charities Bureau requires. 399 organizations from across the state have signed on in support of this legislation. This bill would eliminate a new, redundant Department of State filing requirement for nonprofits registered with the Charities Bureau. This pandemic year is a particularly bad time to impose mindless bureaucratic burdens on nonprofits.  We are also concerned that the privacy of our major donors will suffer unless this law is passed, to make clear that their identities should not be disclosed in response to a FOIL request. We urge you to please pass this bill as soon as possible.

Sample Tweet:

#Nonprofits need S.4817/A.1141 to pass before May 15th to avoid a new, redundant DOS tax filing requirement. 399 organizations support this legislation. Pls pass it now! https://p2a.co/d3yvkvj

Communications going out

Please also feel free incorporate our mobilizing messaging into any comms you have going out: 

DOS tax filing repeal call to action

Take action to repeal the new, redundant Department of State filing requirement for nonprofits registered with the Charities Bureau. The DOS’ website tells nonprofits to file by May 15 if their fiscal year ended December 31. This would require nonprofits to prepare our annual tax filing 6 months earlier than the IRS requires, and to complete our audit a year earlier than the Charities Bureau requires. S4817 (Krueger) /A1141 (Paulin), would eliminate the duplicate Department of State filing requirement. Thank you to Assemblymembers Paulin, Magnarelli, McDonough, Giglio JM, Gonzalez-Rojas, Epsten, Burdick and ‘Donnell, and Senators Krueger, Comrie, and Hoylman for supporting this bill. Don’t see your representative on this list? Contact them today!

We are working to pass this bill before the May 15th filing deadline and need your support!

Contact your legislator! https://p2a.co/gT8LJKG 

Sign on to our legislative memo hosted by the Lawyers Alliance: https://p2a.co/d3yvkvj