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) in-
troduced 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Organization 
Protection Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR ORGANIZATION OR 
ENTITY. 
The Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, Public Law 
105–19, is amended as follows: 
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‘‘(2) Notwithstanding section 4(c)(1), no volun-
teer nonprofit organization shall be liable for harm 
caused by an act or omission of the organization or 
of a volunteer acting on behalf of the organization 
if— 
‘‘(A) the organization or the volunteer en-
gaged in the act or omission at the request of 
or pursuant to an authorization by a state or 
the united states or any agency or subdivision 
of either; and 
‘‘(B) either— 
‘‘(i) the requesting or authorizing gov-
ernmental entity would have been immune 
either from suit or from liability in dam-
ages if it had engaged in the acts or omis-
sions itself or through employees or inde-
pendent contractors; or 
‘‘(ii) 
the 
governmental 
employee, 
agent, or contractor who engaged in the 
acts would have been immune either from 
suit or from liability in damages by virtue 
of immunity extended to individual govern-
mental actors. 
‘‘(3) Except as provided in paragraphs (1) and 
(2), nothing in this section shall be construed to af-
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fect the liability of any nonprofit organization or 
governmental entity with respect to harm caused to 
any person.’’. 
(5) In section 4(d), by striking paragraph (2) 
and redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as para-
graphs (2) and (3), respectively. 
(6) In section 4(e), in paragraph (1), by adding 
the following after the period: ‘‘Punitive damages 
may not be awarded against a volunteer nonprofit 
organization in an action brought for harm based on 
the action of a volunteer acting within the scope of 
the volunteer’s responsibilities to the organization 
unless the claimant establishes by clear and con-
vincing evidence that the organization itself ex-
pressly authorized the volunteer’s action and did so 
with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights 
or safety of the individual harmed.’’. 
(7) In section 4(f), by inserting ‘‘or of a volun-
teer nonprofit organization’’ after ‘‘liability of a vol-
unteer’’. 
(8) In section 5— 
(A) in subsection (a)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘or a volunteer non-
profit organization’’ after ‘‘action against a 
volunteer’’; and 
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(ii) by inserting ‘‘or volunteer non-
profit organization’’ after ‘‘liability of the 
volunteer’’; and 
(B) in subsection (b)— 
(i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or 
a volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after 
‘‘who is a volunteer’’; and 
(ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or 
volunteer nonprofit organization’’ after 
‘‘who is a volunteer’’. 
(9) In section 6, by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(7) VOLUNTEER NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.— 
An entity is a ‘volunteer nonprofit organization’ if it 
is any one or more of the following: 
‘‘(A) A nonprofit organization that con-
ducts substantially all of its activities solely 
through the actions of volunteers or of inde-
pendent contractors. A nonprofit organization is 
conclusively presumed to be a ‘volunteer non-
profit organization’ if the organization has no 
employees. 
‘‘(B) A nonprofit organization is presumed 
to be a ‘volunteer nonprofit organization’ if the 
organization’s primary office and the majority 
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of its employees function primarily to provide 
support to local affiliated organizations that do 
not have employees and who act in furtherance 
of the organization’s nonprofit mission. This 
presumption can be rebutted only by a clear 
and convincing showing that the organization’s 
board expressly authorized its employees to as-
sert active control over the local affiliated orga-
nization with respect to the act or omission in 
question. 
‘‘(C) A nonprofit organization that has 
fewer than 50 employees, that has annual gross 
receipts of less than $200,000, and that is any 
of the following: 
‘‘(i) A public charity that is exempt 
from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of 
the internal revenue code. 
‘‘(ii) A private foundation that is ex-
empt 
from 
taxation 
under 
section 
501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code but 
that does not qualify as a public charity. 
‘‘(iii) A social welfare organization 
that is exempt from taxation under section 
501(c)(4) of the internal revenue code. 
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‘‘(8) A volunteer nonprofit organization acts 
‘itself’ for purposes of this act only when the person 
or body who is authorized by the organization’s gov-
erning documents to act in the name of and on be-
half of the organization expressly acts in accordance 
with those documents. If the organization’s gov-
erning documents do not identify the person or body 
who is authorized to act in the name of and on be-
half of the organization, the organization acts ‘itself’ 
for the purposes of this Act only when the person or 
body whose action is required under the applicable 
State law in order to bind the organization acts 
strictly in accordance with such State law.’’. 
Æ 
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