II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1684 

To amend the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 to provide for liability 

protection for organizations and entities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Mr. KIRK (for himself and Mr. HOEVEN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 to provide 

for liability protection for organizations and entities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Organization 

5 Protection Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR ORGANIZATION OR 

7 ENTITY. 

8 The Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 

9 14501 et seq.) is amended— 

10 (1) in section 3 (42 U.S.C. 14502)— 


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1 (A) in subsection (a), by inserting after 

2 ‘‘relating to volunteers’’ the following: ‘‘or vol3 unteer nonprofit organizations’’; and 

4 (B) in subsection (b), in the matter pre5 ceding paragraph (1), by inserting after 

6 ‘‘against a volunteer’’ the following: ‘‘or a vol7 unteer nonprofit organization’’; 

8 (2) in section 4 (42 U.S.C. 14503)— 

9 (A) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND

10 VOLUNTEER NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS’’ 

11 after ‘‘VOLUNTEERS’’; 

12 (B) by striking subsection (c) and insert13 ing the following: 

14 ‘‘(c) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR ORGANIZATION OR

15 ENTITY.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No volunteer nonprofit or17 ganization shall be liable for harm caused by an act 

18 or omission of a volunteer on behalf of the organiza19 tion unless— 

20 ‘‘(A) the organization would be liable for 

21 the act or omission under generally applicable 

22 laws governing the direct or vicarious liability of 

23 organizations; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the organization itself has expressly 

2 authorized the specific conduct constituting the 

3 act or omission. 

4 ‘‘(2) GOVERNMENT REQUEST OR AUTHORIZA5 TION.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no volunteer 

6 nonprofit organization shall be liable for harm 

7 caused by an act or omission of the organization or 

8 of a volunteer acting on behalf of the organization 

9 if— 

10 ‘‘(A) the organization or the volunteer en11 gaged in the act or omission at the request of 

12 or pursuant to an authorization by the Federal 

13 Government, a State government, or any agency 

14 or subdivision thereof; and 

15 ‘‘(B)(i) the requesting or authorizing gov16 ernmental entity would have been immune from 

17 suit or from liability in damages if the entity 

18 had engaged in the act or omission itself or 

19 through an employee, agent, or independent 

20 contractor; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) any governmental employee, agent, or 

22 contractor who had engaged in the act or omis23 sion on behalf of the requesting or authorizing 

24 governmental entity would have been immune 

25 from suit or from liability in damages by virtue 


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1 of immunity extended to individual govern2 mental actors. 

3 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as pro4 vided in paragraphs (1) and (2), nothing in this sec5 tion shall be construed to affect the liability of any 

6 nonprofit organization or governmental entity with 

7 respect to harm caused to any person.’’; 

8 (C) in subsection (d)— 

9 (i) by striking paragraph (2); and 

10 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 

11 and (4) as paragraphs (2) and (3), respec12 tively; 

13 (D) in subsection (e)(1)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘against a volunteer’’ 

15 and inserting the following: ‘‘against— 

16 ‘‘(A) a volunteer’’; and 

17 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

18 and inserting the following: ‘‘; or 

19 ‘‘(B) a volunteer nonprofit organization in 

20 an action brought for harm based on the action 

21 of a volunteer acting within the scope of the 

22 volunteer’s responsibilities to the organization 

23 unless the claimant establishes by clear and 

24 convincing evidence that the organization itself 

25 expressly authorized the volunteer’s action and 


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1 did so with a conscious, flagrant indifference to 

2 the rights or safety of the individual harmed.’’; 

3 and 

4 (E) in subsection (f)(1), by inserting ‘‘or of 

5 a volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after ‘‘li6 ability of a volunteer’’; 

7 (3) in section 5 (42 U.S.C. 14504)— 

8 (A) in subsection (a)— 

9 (i) by inserting ‘‘or a volunteer non10 profit organization’’ after ‘‘action against a 

11 volunteer’’; and 

12 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or volunteer non13 profit organization’’ after ‘‘liability of the 

14 volunteer’’; and 

15 (B) in subsection (b)— 

16 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or 

17 a volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after 

18 ‘‘who is a volunteer’’; and 

19 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or 

20 a volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after 

21 ‘‘who is a volunteer’’; and 

22 (4) in section 6 (42 U.S.C. 14505)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘For purposes of this Act’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes 

25 of this Act’’; and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(b) VOLUNTEER NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) QUALIFICATION AS A VOLUNTEER NON4 PROFIT ORGANIZATION.— 

5 ‘‘(A) ACTIONS CONDUCTED THROUGH VOL6 UNTEERS.—A nonprofit organization that con7 ducts substantially all of its activities solely 

8 through the actions of volunteers or of inde9 pendent contractors is a volunteer nonprofit or10 ganization for purposes of this Act. 

11 ‘‘(B) ORGANIZATION WITH NO EMPLOY12 EES.—A nonprofit organization that has no em13 ployees is conclusively presumed to be a volun14 teer nonprofit organization for purposes of this 

15 Act. 

16 ‘‘(C) LOCAL AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS

17 WITH NO EMPLOYEES.— 

18 ‘‘(i) PRESUMPTION.—A nonprofit or19 ganization is presumed to be a volunteer 

20 nonprofit organization for purposes of this 

21 Act if the primary office and the majority 

22 of the employees of the organization func23 tion primarily to provide support to local 

24 affiliated organizations that do not have 


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1 employees and that act in furtherance of 

2 the organization’s nonprofit mission. 

3 ‘‘(ii) REBUTTAL.—The presumption 

4 under clause (i) may be rebutted only by 

5 clear and convincing evidence that the 

6 board of the nonprofit organization ex7 pressly authorized the employees of the 

8 nonprofit organization to assert active con9 trol over the local affiliated organization 

10 with respect to the act or omission in ques11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(D) PUBLIC CHARITIES; PRIVATE FOUN13 DATIONS; SOCIAL WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS.— 

14 A nonprofit organization is a volunteer non15 profit organization for purposes of this Act if 

16 the organization— 

17 ‘‘(i) has fewer than 50 employees; 

18 ‘‘(ii) has annual gross receipts of less 

19 than $200,000; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) is— 

21 ‘‘(I) an organization described in 

22 paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 

23 509(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 

24 of 1986 that is exempt from taxation 

25 under section 501(a) of such Code; 


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1 ‘‘(II) a private foundation, as de2 fined in section 509 of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code of 1986, that is exempt 

4 from taxation under section 501(a) of 

5 such Code; or 

6 ‘‘(III) an organization operated 

7 exclusively for the promotion of social 

8 welfare that is described in section 

9 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue 

10 Code of 1986 and is exempt from tax11 ation under section 501(a) of such 

12 Code. 

13 ‘‘(2) ACTS BY A VOLUNTEER NONPROFIT ORGA14 NIZATION.— 

15 ‘‘(A) GOVERNING DOCUMENTS OF ORGANI16 ZATION.—A volunteer nonprofit organization 

17 acts ‘itself’ for purposes of this Act only if the 

18 person or body that is authorized by the gov19 erning documents of the organization to act in 

20 the name of and on behalf of the organization 

21 expressly acts in accordance with those docu22 ments. 

23 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE STATE LAW.—If the 

24 governing documents of a volunteer nonprofit 

25 organization do not identify the person or body 


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1 that is authorized to act in the name of and on 

2 behalf of the organization, the organization acts 

3 ‘itself’ for purposes of this Act only if the per4 son or body whose action is required under the 

5 applicable State law in order to bind the organi6 zation acts strictly in accordance with that 

7 State law.’’. 

Æ 


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