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An Act To Require Disclosures by 3rd-party Vendors Contracted To Perform Fund-raising
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas,  charitable solicitations are frequent occurrences; and
Whereas,  without better disclosure requirements, citizens of Maine may be deceived into contributing more money than they would if adequately informed; and
Whereas,  in order to ensure that Maine citizens are adequately informed, it is imperative that this measure take effect as soon as possible; and
Whereas,  in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 9 MRSA §5011-A, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 541, §15, is amended to read:
 
4. Disclosure of information.   Solicit a contribution from any person in this State without clearly and conspicuously disclosing to the person, prior to the time the person makes or authorizes payment of a donation:
 
A. The name and address of the professional solicitor;
 
B. That the solicitor is being paid by the charitable organization on whose behalf the solicitation is being made; and
 
C. How the potential contributor may obtain information from the State on the respective percentages of contributions that will be paid to the charitable organization and to the paid fund-raiser.; and
 
D.  If the professional solicitor is paid on a percentage of donation basis and that percentage exceeds 25% of the donation:
 
(1) The percentage of the donation that the professional solicitor receives;
 
(2) The percentage of the donation that the charitable organization receives;
 
(3) Whether the donation is sent by the person to the charitable organization or to the professional solicitor; and
 
(4) Whether the professional solicitor is paid prior to or after the distribution of the donation to the charitable organization.
Emergency clause.  In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect when approved.
 
SUMMARY
Current law places certain restrictions on professional solicitors, who are persons or companies that solicit donations on behalf of charitable organizations.
This bill requires a professional solicitor who receives more than 25% of the solicited donation to disclose to the donator the percentage of the donation the professional solicitor receives, the percentage of the donation the charitable organization receives, whether the donation is sent by the donator to the professional solicitor or to the charitable organization and whether the professional solicitor's fee is paid prior to or after the distribution of the donation to the charitable organization.
As under the current law, a failure to make the disclosures required by this bill is a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act and an intentional violation is a Class D crime.