Nonprofit Law Prof Blog

Senator Grassley Targets a Missouri Nonprofit Hospital for its Billing and Collection Practices

As reported in the Daily Tax Report and as released in a statement from his office, Senator Grassley is requesting that a Missouri non-profit hospital, Mosaic Life in Care in St. Joseph, Missouri, explain its large number of lawsuits against low-income patients over treatment bills rather than providing such patients reasonable payment plans for their medical care.  In a letter to the hospital, the Senator affirmed Mosaic's requirement to confer community as a condition to its tax-exempt status as well as meet other requirements under the law, including a financial assistance policy and constraints on billing and collection practices.  In his statement, the Senator explained:

Non-profit hospitals are obligated under law to have a financial assistance policy and alert those who can’t afford care of any assistance they qualify to receive.  Occasionally, a hospital seems to go out of its way to avoid helping the poorest patients.  When these cases come up, the hospitals should explain their practices and how they comply with the spirit and the letter of the law.  It’s a matter of accountability for the tax breaks they receive.

The Senator asserted that Mosaic has sued more of its patients in recent years than any other Missouri hospital, with ost of those sued being uninsured and eligible for financial assistance.  Rather, many of these eligible patients were charged full price for their medical care in addition to the imposition of fines and late fees.

 

According to the Daily Tax Report, in a statement by its spokeswoman, Mosaic acknowledged that the allegations were “serious,”and said it would respond in an “appropriate and timely manner” to the Senator's inquiries.

 

Nicholas Mirkay

2014 Charitable Donations to Colleges = Record Year

The Wall Street Journal reported that Harvard, Stanford Lead Record Year for College Gifts; $37.5 Billion Is 10.8% Jump; Top 10 Schools Bring in 18% of Donations:

Colleges and universities received a record $37.5 billion in donations last year, led by massive gifts to Harvard University, Stanford University and other already-wealthy schools.

The new high, a 10.8% jump from the prior year, was due in part to stock-market increases that boosted capital gifts, as well as a jump in donations of art, according to an annual survey being released Wednesday by the nonprofit Council for Aid to Education. ...

The top 10 recipients brought in nearly 18% of all gifts last year, up from 15% a decade earlier, according to Ann E. Kaplan, who directs the survey.

(Hat tip:  TaxProf Blog)

Nicholas Mirkay

 

 

Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendment Over "Purely Public Charity" Causing Controversy

According to The Times Herald in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania voters could may be voting on a state constitutional amendment to resolve a long-running dispute about who decides which charities should be exempt from taxes, a determination that has serious repercussions not only for the purported charity itself but also the cities and towns in which they are based.  A constitutional amendment passed the Pa. Legislature during its last session that would confer upon the Legislature explicit authority to “establish uniform standards and qualifications” in determining what constitutes a "purely public charity" (and thus tax-exempt) under the Pennsylvania Institutions of Purely Public Charity Act (Act 55 of 1997).  According to The Times Herald, "hospital and health-related organizations, religious groups and other nonprofits have urged lawmakers to advance the proposal, while municipal officials say it might add to their already disproportionate number of tax-exempt properties."

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If Pennsylvania legislators approve the legislation again within the next two years, voters will vote on the measure as a referendum.  According to the article, the May 19 primary is the earliest possible date it could reach voters. 

 (See a Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda for further information on the legislation).

Nicholas Mirkay

Whistleblower Protection for Nonprofits

Patrick Walker (Lindenwood University) has posted Whistleblower Protection for Missouri Nonprofit Organizations.  Here is the abstract:

Nonprofit organizations exist primarily to further the interests of individuals, businesses, and communities who believe and trust in the organization’s mission. At the heart of every nonprofit’s mission is governance: creating systems, structure, and solutions to guide expectations and decision-making that promotes and protects good citizenship in business. Whistleblower policies represent “good governance” for public employees who report illegal or fraudulent activity by an employer, government, or organization, with a set of duties defined by law for employees and employers. While most states have whistleblower laws and policies protecting government and/or private sector employees, Missouri whistleblower protection only extends to public employees. This article will critique the notion of whistleblower protection in general and for Missouri nonprofit organizations, discuss implications of a recent Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in
Chavez-Lavagnino v. Motivation Education Training, Inc., and outline a governance conceptual framework for developing whistleblower protection policies in nonprofit organizations.

Nicholas Mirkay

Searing: Charitable (Anti)Trust

Elizabeth A.M. Searing (School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University) has published Charitable (Anti)Trust: The Role of Antitrust Regulation in the Nonprofit Sector, 5 Nonprofit Policy Forum 261 (2014).  Here is the abstract:

The purpose of this study is to address the ambiguities in the application of anti-trust regulations to the nonprofit sector. We first survey policy tools and their diverse historical usage in nonprofit and mixed markets, specifically in professional associations, hospitals, and education. This analysis informs the development of a typology of anti-competitive nonprofit markets which is used to classify the three historical examples into eight traits. Finally, this typology is applied to three new markets – animal shelters, thrift stores, and soup kitchens – which have less in common with purely for-profit markets and have little or no discussion in antitrust literature. We find that the nonprofit form per se does not indicate an absence of anticompetitive practices or antitrust concerns; however, certain combinations of attributes – such as purely donative revenues and an absence of pricing ability – make the threat of anticompetitive practice less oppressive.

Lloyd Mayer

Cooney et al.: Benefit Corporation and L3C Adoption: A Survey

Kate Cooney (School of Management, Yale), Justin Koushyar (Business School, Emory), Matthew Lee (INSEAD (Singapore)), and Haskell Murray (Belmont) have posted the results of their research titled Benefit Corporation and L3C Adoption: A Survey at the Stanford Social Innovcation Review blog.  Here is the introduction:

A major challenge for social enterprises pursuing both a social mission and financial profit has been the absence of clear legal guidance about their responsibilities to investors and other stakeholders. In the United States, a number of new legal forms specific to social enterprise have emerged over the last decade to fill this gap. The two most common, the low-profit limited liability company (L3C) and the benefit corporation, modify traditional business legal structures to clearly enable and mandate the pursuit of social and environmental as a for-profit business enterprise. This is no small matter—the last major legal form to be created in the United States was the LLP in 1991.

The success of a new regulatory infrastructure for social enterprise depends heavily on the extent to which state legislators, then companies, adopt these forms. To date, a lack of good data has made it difficult to evaluate progress. To address this, we worked over the last year with Secretary of State offices and Intersector Partners to develop systematic, nation-wide data on adoption of these forms.

Lloyd Mayer

Hemphill & Cullari: The Benefit Corporation: Corporate Governance and the For-profit Social Entrepreneur

Thomas A. Hemphill and Francine Cullari (both School of Management, Michigan-Flint) have published The Benefit Corporation: Corporate Governance and the For-profit Social Entrepreneur, 119 Business and Society Review 519 (2014).  Here is the abstract:

The adoption by 19 states and the District of Columbia of a new variant of the business corporation form—known as the benefit corporation—presents several issues for legislatures, for entrepreneurs electing to organize as benefit corporations, for existing corporations that are converting to the new form, and for the stakeholders (other than shareholders) who are intended to be considered in benefit corporation governance. The article presents the history and structure of the new business form and a discussion of what has become its predecessor—the constituency statute. The model benefit corporation statute provisions are reviewed, which many states have adopted in toto. The authors address the obstacles that should be overcome by legislatures, businesses, and stakeholders before further legislative adoptions occur, as well as considerations for effective implementation by government, corporations, and stakeholders under existing and proposed variations of the statute.

Lloyd Mayer

Brunson: Dear I.R.S., It Is Time to Enforce the Campaigning Prohibition

Samuel D. Brunson (Loyola-Chicago) has posted Dear I.R.S., It Is Time to Enforce the Campaigning Prohibition, Even Against Churches.  Here is the abstract:

In 1954, Congress prohibited tax-exempt public charities, including churches, from endorsing or opposing candidates for office. To the extent a tax-exempt public charity violated this prohibition, it would no longer qualify as tax-exempt, and the I.R.S. was to revoke its exemption.

While simple in theory, in practice, the I.R.S. rarely penalizes churches that violate the campaigning prohibition, and virtually never revokes a church’s tax exemption. And, because no taxpayer has standing to challenge the I.R.S.’s inaction, the I.R.S. has no external imperative to revoke the exemptions of churches that do campaign on behalf of or against candidates for office.

This argument makes the normative case that, notwithstanding the I.R.S.’s administrative discretion and the inability of taxpayers to challenge its nonenforcement in court, the time has come for the I.R.S. to begin enforcing the campaigning prohibition. Failing to do so harms the Rule of Law, the taxpaying public, and churches themselves. Moreover, the moment is correct for enforcement, as Pulpit Freedom Sunday has virtually eliminated the I.R.S.’s search costs, people are more aware than ever that churches are violating the prohibition, and, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the campaigning prohibition may represent the final regulatory barrier between charities and politicking.

Even if enforcing the campaigning prohibition is the right thing to do, it would potentially be unpopular, and could provoke a backlash against the I.R.S. After making the normative case for enforcement, then, this Article provides a strategy for enforcement that will allow the I.R.S. to explain what it is doing and why to the general taxpaying public, and will further permit the I.R.S. to avoid the appearance of partisanship. Ultimately, enforcement will allow the I.R.S. to responsibly administer the tax law, will permit the question of the prohibition’s constitutionality to get in front of the judiciary, and will demonstrate dedication to the Rule of Law.

Lloyd Mayer

Ascher: Federalization of the Law of Charity

Mark L. Ascher (Univ. of Texas) has published Federalization of the Law of Charity, 67 Vanderbilt Law Review 1581 (2014).  Here is the abstract:

To this day, the law of charity is often thought of as a matter for the states. In fact, the crucial law relating to charity is now almost always federal. For certain purposes, state law still determines whether a given entity is “charitable.” It also determines the propriety of a charitable fiduciary’s conduct when someone who has standing sues. But federal law determines whether an entity qualifies for various tax incentives, such as exemption from the federal income tax and eligibility to receive tax-deductible gifts, and qualification for these incentives generally determines whether the entity comes into existence and, if so, whether it survives. Federal law also wields a bewildering array of draconian penalties against both charities and their fiduciaries for failure to comply with federally specified rules of behavior. This Article examines both of these and other ways in which federal law has essentially taken over the law of charity. The point is not whether federalization of the law of charity is good or bad. The point is simply this: During the last century, Congress and the federal courts federalized the law of charity.

Lloyd Mayer

Winer & Crimm: Gods, Schools, and Government Funding

Ashgate has released a new book by Lawrence H. Winer (Arizona State) and Nina J. Crimm (St. John's) titled God, Schools, and Government Funding.  Here is the description:

In recent years, a conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, over vigorous dissents, has developed circumventions to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment that allow state legislatures unabashedly to use public tax dollars increasingly to aid private elementary and secondary education. This expansive and innovative legislation provides considerable governmental funds to support parochial schools and other religiously-affiliated education providers. That political response to the perceived declining quality of traditional public schools and the vigorous school choice movement for alternative educational opportunities provokes passionate constitutional controversy. Yet, the Court’s recent decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn inappropriately denies taxpayers recourse to challenge these proliferating tax funding schemes in federal courts. Professors Winer and Crimm clearly elucidate the complex and controversial policy, legal, and constitutional issues involved in using tax expenditures - mechanisms such as exclusions, deductions, and credits that economically function as government subsidies - to finance private, religious schooling. The authors argue that legislatures must take great care in structuring such programs and set forth various proposals to ameliorate the highly troubling dissention and divisiveness generated by state aid for religious education.

Lloyd Mayer

Senator Grassley Responds to NPR/ProPublica Report on Nonprofit Hospitals Suing Poor Patients

NPR and ProPublica report that Senator Chuck Grassley is not letting his departure from the Senate Finance Committee deter him from continuing to challenge the practices of tax-exempt nonprofits.  Responding to earlier stories from these two outlets that some nonprofit hospitals have been seizing the wages of low-income patients, Senator Grassley is now demanding that those hospitals explain their actions and challenging them on whether those actions are consistent with their tax and nonprofit status.  He is also invoking the provision included in the Affordable Care Act and codified in Internal Revenue Code section 501(r)(6) requiring section 501(c)(3) hospitals to make "reasonable efforts" to determine if an individual is eligible for financial assistance before engaging in extraordinary collection actions as a condition of maintaining their tax-exempt status.

Lloyd Mayer

Center for Public Integrity: "IRS Rarely Audits Nonprofits for Politicking"

The Center for Public Integrity reports that it has obtained new information detailing how rare it is for the IRS to audit a tax-exempt organization for alleged excessive political activity.  CPI states that according to the IRS itself the Service has "only begun auditing 26 organizations specifically for political activity since 2010."  CPI blames the lack of audits, even as hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by such organizations for political activity, on a mix of factors, including a reduced Exempt Organizations Division staff, a lack of clarity in the rules governing such activity, and an understandable wariness to address such issues given the continuing aftershocks from the 501(c)(4) application controversy .  CPI obtained this information through a Freedom of Information Act request filed late in 2013.

Lloyd Mayer

Humane Society Sues Oklahoma AG For Alleged Political Attack

The Oklahoman reports that the Humane Society of the United States has sued Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for allegedly slandering and persecuting the organization for political reasons under the guise of enforcing Oklahoma's charitable solicitation  laws.  The group and the AG released dueling statements, with the Humane Society claiming that the AG has engaged in a "nearly yearlong campaign of political harassment and public vilification" and the AG demanding that  the Humane Society disclose documents relating to its solicitation practices, which practices may be misleading.  Besides being the rare case of a well-funded and sympathetic charity challenging a state's regulation  of charitable fundraising, the litigation also will likely be interesting because the attorney representing the Humane Society is former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.  

Lloyd Mayer

Architecture for Humanity Abruptly Shuts Its Doors

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the ten-year old charity Architecture for Humanity closed its door at the start of this year.  A statement from the Board of Directors on the group's website states that the organization is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, having laid off all of its staff as of January 1st and closed its physical office in San Francisco.  The closure apparently came as a shock to many, given that the group had at its peak more than 60 chapters and was the recipient of a number of prestigious awards.  Its 2012 IRS Form 990, for the year that ended June 30, 2013, reported over $12 million in income, almost all from contributions and grants.  Nevertheless, the article indicates that at the end it was a lack of funding that doomed the organization.

Lloyd Mayer

IRS Chief Counsel Formally Takes Responsibility for Most EO Rulings

Completing a previously announced realignment, the IRS formally reassigned responsibility for most rulings relating to tax-exempt organizations to the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities) ("TEGE Counsel") as of January 2, 2015.  In Announcement 2014-34, the IRS shifted responsibility away from the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the IRS ("TE/GE") for revenue rulings, revenue procedures, technical advice, and  letter rulings relating to exempt organizations (other than certain letter rulings relating to employee plans that will remain with TE/GE).  With respect to exempt organizations, TE/GE will only retain responsibility for determination letters, including exemption determination letters and determination letters issued in response to an IRS Form 8940 (Request for Miscellaneous Determination). 

Lloyd Mayer

Will the Legacy of the 501(c)(4) Mess Be a Better IRS or Just a Smaller One?

The IRS "controversy" or "scandal" (depending on whom you are talking with) continues to generate significant ripples for the Service.  Here are some of the most notable recent developments:

National Taxpayer Advocate Recommendations:  In her 2014 Annual Report to Congress, Nina Olson called on Congress ot create an optional "safe harbor" election for section 501(c)(4) organizations that would give such organizations a numerical test they could use to ensure that their level of political campaign activity is permissible given their tax-exempt status (similar to the existing section 501(h) election for section 501(c)(3) organizations with respect to lobbying) (Legislative Recommendation #5).  Ms. Olson also recomended that Congress give groups seeking section 501(c)(4), (c)(5), or (c)(6) status the ability to seek a declaratory judgement in the same manner as groups seeking section 501(c)(3) status now enjoy, and that the IRS adopt administrative review procedures for groups that have had their tax-exempt status automatically revoked (Legislative Recommendation #12).  

IRS Modification of Section 501(c)(4) Expedited Application Process:  In a memo released just before Christmas, the Acting Director, EO, Rulings and Agreements provided revised and clarified previously issued procedures for applicants seeking recognition under section 501(c)(4) that are given the option of choosing an expedited application process.  The new procedures only apply to applicants that are given this option after the issue date (12/23/14) for the memo.  Applicants who were told they were eligible for this option before that date are subject to slightly different procedures (included as Appendix B to the memo).

Omnibus Spending Bill Again Limits (?) IRS:  As was the case a year ago in Public Law 113-76 (see "Cryptic Legislation" section of this post), Congress has once again included with the funding of the IRS the following limitations (Hat Tip: EO Journal):

SEC. 107. None of the funds made available under this Act may be used by the Internal Revenue Service to target citizens of the United States for exercising any right guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

SEC. 108. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used by the Internal Revenue Service to target groups for regulatory scrutiny based on their ideological beliefs.

It is still unclear what exactly the effect, if any, of these provisions actually is.

House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Staff Report:  Released by outgoing Chairman Darrell Issa, the report, not surprisingly, slams the IRS and the Obama Administration, and also promises more fact-finding.

The Shrinking IRS:  As numerous news outlets have reported, the IRS faces a shrinking budget - likely at least in part because of the 501(c)(4) mess - even as the demand for its services from taxpayers continues to increase.  According to Taxpayer Advocate Nin Olson, the decline is 17.5 percent since 2010, taking inflation into account (see NPR).  IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has even said the agency might have to shut down for two days, with employees put on unpaid furlough (see The Hill).  For other examples of the flood of coverage, see Forbes, NBC News, the NY Times, and the Washington Post.

It is too soon to make a final call, but at least some positive changes may result - clarification of the standards for political activity by noncharitable 501(c) organizations and clearance of the exemption application backlog come to mind.  At the same time, the damage to the Service and the tax system seems greater - trading speed for accuracy in the application process, damaged morale among the remaining IRS employees and greater difficulty in recruiting future such employees, and a collapsing budget even as the tax law continues to become more complex.

Lloyd Mayer

WSJ: "Universities Push Harder Into Realm of Startups"

As part of the continuing blurring of lines between nonprofits and for-profits, the Wall Street Journal reported last month on the increasing efforts by universities to be incubators for innovative startup companies that take advantage of university resources, including faculty expertise and intellectual property.   The article notes that according to the Association of University Technology Managers the number of new university and other research institution startups is approaching 1,000 a year.  At the same time, the article highlights the many obstacles that such startups face, many of which stem from the very university environment that also supports them.  These obstacles include faculty focused on research and publishing, not entrepreneurship, and limited access to markets and venture capitalists.  Nevertheless, in an era of flat tuition universities will undoubtedly continue to try to leverage their assets in new ways, including through such ventures.

Lloyd Mater

The Saga of Oral Roberts University

A number of years ago we reported on the rescue of Oral Roberts University from looming bankruptcy by a generous (to the tune of $70 million) donor after the resignation of the University's President.  I recently came across a detailed account of the circumstances that led up to this dramatic event, published by This Land Press, an Oklahoma based media company.  While not focused on legal issues, the story provides some fascinating details regarding how the University's Board of Regents - populated by a whose who of televangelists - learned about and reacted to accusations that the University's President, who was also Oral Roberts' son, had received improper personal financial benefits from the institution.  It also provides a detailed - and contestable - narrative about the motivations that led Oral Roberts to found the University and other, even less successful nonprofit ventures, and to try to keep leadernship of the Universithy within his family.

Lloyd Mayer

Growing Trend of For-Profit Colleges Becoming Nonprofits?

I recently was looking for some examples of nonprofit colleges and universities becoming for-profits and noticed what appears to an interesting trend - for-profit colleges and universities becoming nonprofits.  The most prominent example is Grand Canyon University (GCU), which informed shareholders late last year that it may buy them out and convert to a nonprofit college according to a Bloomberg News article.  GCU, which has both a physical campus in Arizona and a strong online presence, is currently worth over $2 billion (based on the market value of its publicy traded parent company).  Its stated reason for considering this change is the stigma associated with being a for-profit, which apparently affects its relationships not only with prospective students but also with other institutions of higher education and regulators.  For example, it claims that some schools have refused to play sports against them even though it is an NCAA Division I school.  One particularly interesting aspect of its history - it was a nonprofit until 2004, when financial struggles led it to become a for-profit entity, while still apparently maintaining its reputation as a strong Christian institution.

GCU is the most prominent example, but not the only one.  The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinal recently reported that Herzing University, described as a for-profit career college, has just completed a conversion to nonprofit status.  And a July 2014 Inside Higher Ed article noted four other for-profit to nonprofit conversions, although all of those involved relative small institutions that were closely held and so presumable were easier to convert.  According to the article, unidentified sources said another four such institutions were considering such a move.  The most common mechanism is for the institution to be sold to an existing nonprofit, with valuation and financing being the key issues in such a scenario.  And of course there are numerous accreditation, property ownership, and other other regulatory and legal issues to address.  Given this complexity, it is not surprising that according to a recent Arizona Republic article GCU officials only give themselves a 50 percent chance of successfully converting GCU to nonprofit status.  It also not surprising that the same article highlights how much GCU's current executives would take home (tens of millions of dollars) if the conversion happens.

Lloyd Mayer

 

 

Nebraska Supreme Court Finds Nonprofit's Records are Not Public Records Subject to Disclosure

The Nebraska Supreme Court last week faced the issue of whether records held by Falls City Economic Development and Growth Enterprise, Inc. (EDGE), a Nebraska nonproit corporation, were "public records" within the meaning of Nebraska's disclosure laws because of the relationship EDGE has with the City of Falls City, Nebraska and other governmental entities.  In a unanimous decision, the court concluded EDGE's records were not public records and so were not subject to disclosure, reversing a state trial court.  

Citing an earlier opinion as well as similar tests applied by courts in other states, the Nebraska Supreme court stated that records held by a private party are public records if: "(1) The public body, through a delegation of its authority to perform a government function, contracted with a private party to carry out the government function; (2) the private party prepared the records under the public body’s delegation of authority; (3) the public body was entitled to possess the materials to monitor the private party’s performance; and (4) the records are used to make a decision affecting public interest."  Finding that EDGE was not controlled by government officials, although two city officials served among the 21 voting members of EDGE's board of directors and another official served in a non-voting, ex-officio capacity, that the government funding provided to EDGE was under the control of its board, and that EDGE had separate financial records, separate offices, and separate employees from the governments with which it worked, the court concluded that EDGE was not the functional equivalent of a government agency and so its records were not public records subject to legally required disclosure.  If, as the court suggested, the test it applied represents a growing consensus among state courts regarding how to approach this issue, this decision likely has ramifications beyond the State of Nebraska.

Lloyd Mayer