Today, July 1, 2014, most provisions of the Non-Profit Revitalization Action of 2013 (NPRA) and a follow-up technical corrections act (S6249/A9117 or the Technical Corrections Act) go into effect. This first major revision of New York’s nonprofit laws in more than 40 years has generated much discussion in the nonprofit community—ranging from appreciation for certain measures eliminating statutory burdens that have been driving nonprofits to incorporate in other states to grumbling (or worse) about the imposition of certain mandatory governance practices. However, perhaps the most significant substantive provision of NPRA and the Technical Corrections Act has received absolutely no public debate—a provision that will enable charitable not-for-profit corporations to state in their certificates of incorporation merely that they have general charitable purposes, rather than, as required pre-NPRA, identifying with some specificity what those charitable purposes are.
When Governor Andrew Cuomo signed NPRA, he stated in a signing memorandum “[t]his bill as passed contains certain technical defects and barriers to implementation. The Legislature has agreed to remedy these deficiencies by passing additional legislation. On that basis, I am signing this bill.” Accordingly, in the 2014 legislative session, the Technical Corrections Act was passed by the Senate and the Assembly and, on May 20, 2014, signed by the governor.
