I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2290 

To amend the Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 1997, to provide 

for liability protection for organizations or entities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 13, 2015 

Mr. CHABOT (for himself, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. FORBES, Mr. KING

of Iowa, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. MARINO, and Mr. KLINE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 

1997, to provide for liability protection for organizations 

or 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, Public Law 

9 105–19, is amended as follows: 


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1 (1) In section 3(a), by inserting after ‘‘relating 

2 to volunteers’’ the following: ‘‘or volunteer nonprofit 

3 organizations’’. 

4 (2) In section 3(b), in the matter preceding 

5 paragraph (1), by inserting after ‘‘against a volun6 teer’’ the following: ‘‘or a volunteer nonprofit organi7 zation’’. 

8 (3) In section 4, in the heading, by inserting 

9 ‘‘AND VOLUNTEER NONPROFIT ORGANIZA10 TIONS’’ after ‘‘VOLUNTEERS’’. 

11 (4) In section 4, by amending subsection (c) to 

12 read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(c) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR ORGANIZATION OR

14 ENTITY.— 

15 ‘‘(1) No volunteer nonprofit organization shall 

16 be liable for harm caused by an act or omission of 

17 a volunteer on behalf of the organization unless— 

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

19 the act or omission under generally applicable 

20 laws governing the direct or vicarious liability of 

21 organizations; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the organization itself has expressly 

23 authorized the specific conduct constituting the 

24 act or omission. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding section 4(c)(1), no volun2 teer nonprofit organization shall be liable for harm 

3 caused by an act or omission of the organization or 

4 of a volunteer acting on behalf of the organization 

5 if— 

6 ‘‘(A) the organization or the volunteer en7 gaged in the act or omission at the request of 

8 or pursuant to an authorization by a state or 

9 the united states or any agency or subdivision 

10 of either; and 

11 ‘‘(B) either— 

12 ‘‘(i) the requesting or authorizing gov13 ernmental entity would have been immune 

14 either from suit or from liability in dam15 ages if it had engaged in the acts or omis16 sions itself or through employees or inde17 pendent contractors; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) the governmental employee, 

19 agent, or contractor who engaged in the 

20 acts would have been immune either from 

21 suit or from liability in damages by virtue 

22 of immunity extended to individual govern23 mental actors. 

24 ‘‘(3) Except as provided in paragraphs (1) and 

25 (2), nothing in this section shall be construed to afVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 May 15, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2290.IH H2290

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1 fect the liability of any nonprofit organization or 

2 governmental entity with respect to harm caused to 

3 any person.’’. 

4 (5) In section 4(d), by striking paragraph (2) 

5 and redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as para6 graphs (2) and (3), respectively. 

7 (6) In section 4(e), in paragraph (1), by adding 

8 the following after the period: ‘‘Punitive damages 

9 may not be awarded against a volunteer nonprofit 

10 organization in an action brought for harm based on 

11 the action of a volunteer acting within the scope of 

12 the volunteer’s responsibilities to the organization 

13 unless the claimant establishes by clear and con14 vincing evidence that the organization itself ex15 pressly authorized the volunteer’s action and did so 

16 with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights 

17 or safety of the individual harmed.’’. 

18 (7) In section 4(f), by inserting ‘‘or of a volun19 teer nonprofit organization’’ after ‘‘liability of a vol20 unteer’’. 

21 (8) In section 5— 

22 (A) in subsection (a)— 

23 (i) by inserting ‘‘or a volunteer non24 profit organization’’ after ‘‘action against a 

25 volunteer’’; and 


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1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or volunteer non2 profit organization’’ after ‘‘liability of the 

3 volunteer’’; and 

4 (B) in subsection (b)— 

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

6 a volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after 

7 ‘‘who is a volunteer’’; and 

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

9 volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after 

10 ‘‘who is a volunteer’’. 

11 (9) In section 6, by adding at the end the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(7) VOLUNTEER NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.— 

14 An entity is a ‘volunteer nonprofit organization’ if it 

15 is any one or more of the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) A nonprofit organization that con17 ducts substantially all of its activities solely 

18 through the actions of volunteers or of inde19 pendent contractors. A nonprofit organization is 

20 conclusively presumed to be a ‘volunteer non21 profit organization’ if the organization has no 

22 employees. 

23 ‘‘(B) A nonprofit organization is presumed 

24 to be a ‘volunteer nonprofit organization’ if the 

25 organization’s primary office and the majority 


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1 of its employees function primarily to provide 

2 support to local affiliated organizations that do 

3 not have employees and who act in furtherance 

4 of the organization’s nonprofit mission. This 

5 presumption can be rebutted only by a clear 

6 and convincing showing that the organization’s 

7 board expressly authorized its employees to as8 sert active control over the local affiliated orga9 nization with respect to the act or omission in 

10 question. 

11 ‘‘(C) A nonprofit organization that has 

12 fewer than 50 employees, that has annual gross 

13 receipts of less than $200,000, and that is any 

14 of the following: 

15 ‘‘(i) A public charity that is exempt 

16 from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of 

17 the internal revenue code. 

18 ‘‘(ii) A private foundation that is ex19 empt from taxation under section 

20 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code but 

21 that does not qualify as a public charity. 

22 ‘‘(iii) A social welfare organization 

23 that is exempt from taxation under section 

24 501(c)(4) of the internal revenue code. 


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1 ‘‘(8) A volunteer nonprofit organization acts 

2 ‘itself’ for purposes of this act only when the person 

3 or body who is authorized by the organization’s gov4 erning documents to act in the name of and on be5 half of the organization expressly acts in accordance 

6 with those documents. If the organization’s gov7 erning documents do not identify the person or body 

8 who is authorized to act in the name of and on be9 half of the organization, the organization acts ‘itself’ 

10 for the purposes of this Act only when the person or 

11 body whose action is required under the applicable 

12 State law in order to bind the organization acts 

13 strictly in accordance with such State law.’’. 

Æ 


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