[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1902 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  1st Session

                               H. R. 1902

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

To immunize donations made in the form of charitable gift annuities and 
  charitable remainder trusts from the antitrust laws and State laws 
                     similar to the antitrust laws.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1902

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To immunize donations made in the form of charitable gift annuities and 
  charitable remainder trusts from the antitrust laws and State laws 
                     similar to the antitrust laws.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Charitable Donation Antitrust 
Immunity Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. IMMUNITY FROM ANTITRUST LAWS.

    The Charitable Gift Annuity Antitrust Relief Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 
37 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by amending section 2 to read as follows:

``SEC. 2. IMMUNITY FROM ANTITRUST LAWS.

    ``(a) Inapplicability of Antitrust Laws.--Except as provided in 
subsection (d), the antitrust laws, and any State law similar to any of 
the antitrust laws, shall not apply to charitable gift annuities or 
charitable remainder trusts.
    ``(b) Immunity.--Except as provided in subsection (d), any person 
subjected to any legal proceeding for damages, injunction, penalties, 
or other relief of any kind under the antitrust laws, or any State law 
similar to any of the antitrust laws, on account of setting or agreeing 
to rates of return or other terms for, negotiating, issuing, 
participating in, implementing, or otherwise being involved in the 
planning, issuance, or payment of charitable gift annuities or 
charitable remainder trusts shall have immunity from suit under the 
antitrust laws, including the right not to bear the cost, burden, and 
risk of discovery and trial, for the conduct set forth in this 
subsection.
    ``(c) Treatment of Certain Annuities and Trusts.--Any annuity 
treated as a charitable gift annuity, or any trust treated as a 
charitable remainder trust, either--
            ``(1) in any filing by the donor with the Internal Revenue 
        Service; or
            ``(2) in any schedule, form, or written document provided 
        by or on behalf of the donee to the donor;
shall be conclusively presumed for the purposes of this Act to be 
respectively a charitable gift annuity or a charitable remainder trust, 
unless there has been a final determination by the Internal Revenue 
Service that, for fraud or otherwise, the donor's annuity or trust did 
not qualify respectively as a charitable gift annuity or charitable 
remainder trust when created.
    ``(d) Limitation.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply with 
respect to the enforcement of a State law similar to any of the 
antitrust laws, with respect to charitable gift annuities, or 
charitable remainder trusts, created after the State enacts a statute, 
not later than December 8, 1998, that expressly provides that 
subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply with respect to such charitable 
gift annuities and such charitable remainder trusts.''; and
            (2) in section 3--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (1);
                    (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph 
                (1);
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (1), as so 
                redesignated, the following:
            ``(2) Charitable remainder trust.--The term `charitable 
        remainder trust' has the meaning given it in section 664(d) of 
        the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 664(d)).'';
                    (D) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 
                paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and
                    (E) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) Final determination.--The term `final determination' 
        includes an Internal Revenue Service determination, after 
        exhaustion of donor's and donee's administrative remedies, 
        disallowing the donor's charitable deduction for the year in 
        which the initial contribution was made because of the donee's 
        failure to comply at such time with the requirements of section 
        501(m)(5) or 664(d), respectively, of the Internal Revenue Code 
        of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(m)(5), 664(d)).''.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF ACT.

    This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall apply with 
respect to all conduct occurring before, on, or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and shall apply in all administrative and 
judicial actions pending on or commenced after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT.

    (a) Study and Report.--The Attorney General shall carry out a study 
to determine the effect of this Act on markets for noncharitable 
annuities, charitable gift annuities, and charitable remainder trusts. 
The Attorney General shall prepare a report summarizing the results of 
the study.
    (b) Details of Study and Report.--The report referred to in 
subsection (a) shall include any information on possible inappropriate 
activity resulting from this Act and any recommendations for 
legislative changes, including recommendations for additional 
enforcement resources.
    (c) Submission of Report.--The Attorney General shall submit the 
report referred to in subsection (a) to the Chairman and the ranking 
member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives, and to the Chairman and the ranking member of the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, not later than 27 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives June 23, 1997.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.