Exempt Auctioneers Charitable Solicitation Requirements

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Exempt Auctioneers from Charitable Solicitation Rules

This law removes auctioneers who work for charitable organizations, whether paid or volunteering, from the rules that require them to register and follow other requirements set by the Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act.

What This Bill Does

• Defines an auctioneer as someone who provides services to a charity without being considered a 'paid solicitor' under the act.
• Exempts auctioneers from having to register with the secretary of state, get a bond, and file financial reports.
• Allows auctioneers to work for charities even if they are paid or volunteering, as long as they do not handle money directly.

Who It Names or Affects

• Auctioneers working with charitable organizations
• Charitable organizations that hire auctioneers

Terms To Know

paid solicitor

Someone who collects money for a charity in Colorado and gets paid to do it.

bond

A type of financial security that auctioneers usually don't need if they are exempted from the act's requirements.

Limits and Unknowns

• The law only applies to Colorado.
• Auctioneers still can't handle money directly for the charity they are working with.

Official Summary Text

The "Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act" (act) defines a "paid solicitor" as a person that, for monetary compensation, performs a service in which contributions are solicited in Colorado for a charitable purpose or for the benefit of a charitable organization. Before soliciting contributions or otherwise acting as a paid solicitor, a person that wants to act as a paid solicitor must first do the following:
Register with the secretary of state by submitting an application or annual renewal form, together with certain required information and disclosures about the applicant;
File with the secretary of state evidence of having procured a bond in the amount of $15,000 issued by a licensed corporate surety or an alternative form of financial security, such as a savings account, deposit, or certificate of deposit, available in Colorado; and
Pay the required registration filing fee, as established by the secretary of state.
Additionally, after registering, a paid solicitor is responsible for doing the following:
Filing solicitation notices with the secretary of state in advance of commencing a solicitation campaign;
If the paid solicitor has custody of monetary contributions, depositing the monetary contributions at a bank or other federally insured financial institution within 2 business days after receipt; and
At the conclusion of a solicitation campaign, or annually if the campaign is ongoing, providing to the charitable organization and filing with the secretary of state a financial report of the solicitation campaign.
The bill excludes from the definition of "paid solicitor" an auctioneer who provides auctioneer services to a charitable organization. As a result, the auctioneer is exempted from the act's registration, bond, and other requirements of paid solicitors. The exemption applies regardless of whether the auctioneer is contracted or paid to provide their auctioneer services to the charitable organization or is volunteering their auctioneer services to the charitable organization without compensation. To be exempted from the act's requirements of paid solicitors, an auctioneer who provides auctioneer services to a charitable organization may not directly receive or handle
monetary donations

contributions
or charitable funding on behalf of the organization with which the auctioneer is contracted or volunteering.
(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)