Title: Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 2017
Policy area: Law

Summary:
Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 2017
This bill amends the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 to expand liability protections to volunteer nonprofit organizations for harm caused by an act or omission of a volunteer on behalf of the organization.
The bill prohibits such liability protections from applying if the organization: (1) would be liable under laws governing the direct or vicarious liability of organizations, and (2) expressly authorized the specific conduct constituting the act or omission.
The bill bars such an organization from liability for harm caused by the organization, or a volunteer acting on its behalf, if the act or omission was at the request of, or pursuant to an authorization by, a state, the United States, or another governmental subdivision, provided that: (1) the requesting or authorizing governmental entity would have been immune either from suit or from liability in damages if it had engaged in the acts or omissions itself or through employees or independent contractors; or (2) the governmental employee, agent, or contractor would have been immune either from suit or from liability in damages by virtue of immunity extended to individual governmental actors.
The bill prohibits punitive damages from being awarded against a volunteer nonprofit organization for the actions of a volunteer within the scope of the volunteer's responsibilities to the organization unless the claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the organization itself expressly authorized the volunteer's action with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2432 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2432

To amend the Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 1997, to provide 
        for liability protection for organizations or entities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 16, 2017

Mr. Chabot (for himself, Mr. Roskam, Mrs. Walorski, Mr. Farenthold, Mr. 
 Franks of Arizona, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Brooks of Alabama, Mr. Roe of 
 Tennessee, Mr. Latta, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Jody B. Hice of Georgia, Ms. 
 Herrera Beutler, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Marino, 
   Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Faso, Mr. Hensarling, Mr. Bishop of 
Michigan, Mr. Abraham, Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Emmer, Mr. King 
 of Iowa, Mr. Bucshon, and Mr. Walberg) 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 2017''.

SEC. 2. LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR ORGANIZATION OR ENTITY.

    The Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, Public Law 105-19, is amended 
as follows:
            (1) In section 3(a), by inserting after ``relating to 
        volunteers'' the following: ``or volunteer nonprofit 
        organizations''.
            (2) In section 3(b), in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
        by inserting after ``against a volunteer'' the following: ``or 
        a volunteer nonprofit organization''.
            (3) In section 4, in the heading, by inserting ``and 
        volunteer nonprofit organizations'' after ``volunteers''.
            (4) In section 4, by amending subsection (c) to read as 
        follows:
    ``(c) Liability Protection for Organization or Entity.--
            ``(1) No volunteer nonprofit organization shall be liable 
        for harm caused by an act or omission of a volunteer on behalf 
        of the organization unless--
                    ``(A) the organization would be liable for the act 
                or omission under generally applicable laws governing 
                the direct or vicarious liability of organizations; and
                    ``(B) the organization itself has expressly 
                authorized the specific conduct constituting the act or 
                omission.
            ``(2) Notwithstanding section 4(c)(1), no volunteer 
        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 engaged 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 
                        governmental entity would have been immune 
                        either from suit or from liability in damages 
                        if it had engaged in the acts or omissions 
                        itself or through employees or independent 
                        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 governmental actors.
            ``(3) Except as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2), nothing 
        in this section shall be construed to affect 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 paragraphs (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 
        convincing evidence that the organization itself expressly 
        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 volunteer 
        nonprofit organization'' after ``liability of a volunteer''.
            (8) In section 5--
                    (A) in subsection (a)--
                            (i) by inserting ``or a volunteer nonprofit 
                        organization'' after ``action against a 
                        volunteer''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``or volunteer nonprofit 
                        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 following:
            ``(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 conducts 
                substantially all of its activities solely through the 
                actions of volunteers or of independent contractors. A 
                nonprofit organization is conclusively presumed to be a 
                `volunteer nonprofit 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 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 assert active control over the local 
                affiliated organization 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 exempt 
                        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.
            ``(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 governing documents to act in 
        the name of and on behalf of the organization expressly acts in 
        accordance with those documents. If the organization's 
        governing documents do not identify the person or body who is 
        authorized to act in the name of and on behalf 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.''.
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