Tennessee Senate bill in Session 114.
Status: enacted. Latest action: April 30, 2025.
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 48, Chapter 101, relative to the solicitation of charitable funds.
Present law regulates professional solicitors who, for a financial or other consideration, solicit contributions for, or on behalf of, a charitable organization, whether performed personally or through such person's agents , servants , or employees . Generally, professional solicitors are subject to all of the following requirements: No person may act as a professional solicitor for any charitable organization, whether exempt or not, unless such person has first registered with the secretary of state. Registration must include the filing of a complete application, bond and filing fee. A bond of $25,000 must be filed with the registration application and be approved by the secretary of state. The annual registration fee is $250. Such r egistrations expire on December 31 of the year for which they are issued. No person who has been convicted within the past five years for a violation of any law pertaining to the solicitation of charitable funds , and no person convicted of a felony in this or any other state, may serve as an employee, member, officer or agent of any professional solicitor until such person's civil rights have been restored. A professional solicitor must file a financial report for a solicitation campaign with the secretary of state within 90 days after a solicitation campaign has been completed or within 90 days after the end of the fiscal year of any campaign which lasts for more than one year. A professional solicitor must keep t rue and accurate fiscal records, including, but not limited to, all income and expenses . The professional solicitor must maintain during each solicitation campaign and for three years after its completion the name and address of each employee, agent, or other person involved in the solicitation campaign. A solicitor is required to have and produce or display, on demand, identification indicating that the solicitor has been duly authorized by the organization for which the solicitor is soliciting. The secretary of state must review registrations and enforce registration requirements for professional solicitors. Present law exempts several persons and entities from registration requirements. However, such persons and entities exempt from registration requirements are not exempt from other provisions for professional solicitors. Such exempt persons and entities i nclude all of the following: Bona fide religious institutions, educational institutions, or cooperative scholarship corporations . A charitable organization that does not raise or receive contributions from the public over $50,000 during a fiscal year . However, a charitable organization must file registration statements with the secretary of state if a portion of their fundraising activities are conducted by professional solicitors, professional fundraising counsel, or commercial coventurers . Volunteer fire departments, rescue squads or local civil defense organizations . Community fairs, county fairs, district fairs and division fairs that have been qualified by the commissioner of agriculture to receive state aid grants . Political parties, candidates for federal or state office, and political action committees required to file financial information with federal or state election commissions . Hospitals and nursing homes that are subject to regulation by the department of health . Any corporation established by an act of congress that is required by federal law to submit annual reports of its activities to congress containing itemized accounts of all receipts and expenditures after being fully audited by the department of defense. This bill clarifie s that agents, servants, or employees specially employed by or for a charitable organization who are engaged in the solicitation of contributions under the direction of the professional solicitor are also considered professional solicitors and are regulate d by present law as outlined above .
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-01-27 | Introduced | Bill introduced |
| 2025-04-30 | Status | enacted |
| 2025-04-30 | Latest Action | Comp. became Pub. Ch. 169 |