[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7587 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7587

 To strengthen the partnership between the nonprofit organizations and 
            the Federal Government, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 26, 2022

Ms. McCollum (for herself and Mr. Upton) introduced the following bill; 
  which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in 
addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, and Ways and Means, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To strengthen the partnership between the nonprofit organizations and 
            the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Nonprofit Sector Strength and 
Partnership Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that:
            (1) The nonprofit sector is a trusted partner in working 
        with American communities, strengthening civil society, and 
        ensuring that all people living in the United States have the 
        opportunity to thrive.
            (2) The Nation relies on the nonprofit sector on its 
        ability to harness and direct the generosity, service, and 
        volunteerism of the American people.
            (3) Nonprofit organizations are a significant and highly 
        diverse sector of the United States economy that includes 
        1,800,000 organizations as of 2020, according to the Internal 
        Revenue Service. United States nonprofit organizations 
        contributed $1.2 trillion to the economy in 2020 and accounted 
        for 5.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of the United 
        States, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data 
        interpreted by Independent Sector.
            (4) Collectively, the nonprofit sector engages through and 
        is supported by more than 12 million workers, 20 million board 
        members, 63 million volunteers, and 170 million donors. In 
        2017, United States nonprofits employed 12.5 million paid 
        workers and paid over $670 billion in wages.
            (5) 92 percent of the 501(c)(3) public charities in the 
        United States have an annual budget of less than $1,000,000 
        according to data provided by the Internal Revenue Service.
            (6) While no Federal agency regularly collects systematic 
        employment data on the nonprofit sector, at the local level, 
        nonprofits are a time-tested mechanism for delivering critical 
        community services.
            (7) In order to maximize the nonprofit sector's ability to 
        utilize Federal investments to respond to community need, the 
        Federal Government should take steps to encourage, support, and 
        promote volunteerism and charitable giving.
            (8) National service programs provide an essential vehicle 
        for Americans of all ages anxious to serve their communities 
        and transform their own lives in the process. Service programs 
        also provide a critical pipeline of emerging leaders into the 
        workforce, including the nonprofit workforce.
            (9) Like for-profit entities, the nonprofit sector is 
        challenged during times of economic downturns. As employers and 
        providers of services to countless Americans, the 
        sustainability of this sector is of great national importance, 
        yet the Federal Government provides significant support to for-
        profit businesses through the Small Business Administration and 
        other agencies and programs that are not accessible to 
        nonprofit organizations.
            (10) Despite the importance of the nonprofit sector to the 
        United States economy and to the success of many Federal, 
        State, and local policy initiatives, no Federal agency or 
        office has responsibility for evaluating, building, or 
        maintaining the capacity of the nonprofit sector.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To enhance the ability of the nonprofit sector to 
        address public challenges and maximize opportunities to improve 
        quality of life in the communities where nonprofit 
        organizations work.
            (2) To strengthen communities across the United States by 
        making the Federal Government a more productive partner with 
        nonprofit organizations through the establishment of better 
        Federal coordination with respect to, enhanced transparency 
        with respect to, and greater support for the work of nonprofit 
        organizations.
            (3) Collect, assemble, and make available Federal data and 
        research on the nonprofit sector and to generate new data and 
        research where necessary to support the development of 
        effective Federal policy.
            (4) Raise awareness of the nonprofit sector and the vital 
        civic, social, and economic contributions nonprofit 
        organizations make to the United States.

SEC. 4. WHITE HOUSE OFFICE ON NONPROFIT SECTOR PARTNERSHIP.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established in the Executive Office of 
the President an Office on Nonprofit Sector Partnership (in this 
section referred to as the ``Office''). The Office will be led by a 
Nonprofit Advisor.
    (b) Functions.--The Office shall--
            (1) strengthen and develop policies and actions which 
        enhance the sector's ability to address national and community 
        priorities;
            (2) identify and promote policies that increase and sustain 
        charitable giving, volunteerism, and national service to 
        support the capacity of the nonprofit sector;
            (3) publish, based upon regular consultation with the 
        nonprofit sector, policy options and recommendations for 
        leveraging the unique partnership between the Federal 
        Government and the nonprofit sector to accelerate repair and 
        rebuilding across America, particularly with respect to 
        underserved and marginalized communities;
            (4) identify barriers and policies that hinder, increase, 
        or sustain opportunities for nonprofits to operate 
        internationally both on their own or in partnership with the 
        Federal Government;
            (5) coordinate, across relevant Federal agencies, the task 
        of compiling, producing and making publicly available key 
        existing Federal data sources of relevance to the nonprofit 
        sector. This will include data on the economic health and 
        impact of the nonprofit sector (including employment and wage 
        data), data on Federal funding of the nonprofit sector 
        (including grants and contracts), Census data, and data on 
        aggregated types of revenue, volunteering and civic engagement 
        and be published publicly annually;
            (6) direct a Federal agency, to be determined by the 
        Nonprofit Advisor within 180 days, to initiate, in consultation 
        with States, a competitive grant process to build a single 
        online portal, such that charities can fulfill State 
        registration and reporting requirements for States that choose 
        to participate through a single filing. An eligible grant 
        recipient must be a nonprofit organization with governing board 
        members possessing experience working to align charitable 
        registration requirements across States. In evaluating 
        applications for this portal, the Federal agency shall consider 
        whether the application will--
                    (A) enable smaller charities to respond to 
                disasters in their communities by raising funds from 
                multiple States;
                    (B) empower the public to make responsible 
                donations, especially to help those in need during 
                natural disasters or other crises of national 
                significance;
                    (C) eliminate costly inefficiencies for charities 
                operating or fundraising in multiple States;
                    (D) help nonprofits meet existing registration and 
                filing requirements;
                    (E) ensure appropriate cybersecurity standards are 
                being met or exceeded;
                    (F) preserve the public's trust in nonprofits; and
                    (G) establish a sustainable funding mechanism that 
                is not reliant on Federal funding for ongoing costs; 
                and
            (7) convene a commission on Federal grant reform composed 
        of individuals representing Federal grantmaking agencies, pass-
        through entities, and nonprofit grantees and subgrantees to 
        offer recommendations to streamline and improve the operational 
        relationship between all levels of government and the nonprofit 
        sector. In addition, the sector's access to, participation in 
        and performance in Federal, State, and local government 
        contracting and funding shall be assessed--
                    (A) the commission members shall be appointed by 
                the President and be drawn from the nonprofit sector to 
                include designees with substantial and diverse 
                experience in Federal, State, and local governmental 
                grantmaking processes, and shall include proportional 
                representation from small, medium, and large nonprofit 
                organizations as determined by annual expenses, and 
                include meaningful racial, gender, ethnic and 
                geographic diversity;
                    (B) the report of the commission shall include 
                recommendations on--
                            (i) improving provisions of the Uniform 
                        Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, 
                        and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (OMB 
                        Uniform Guidance), (2 C.F.R. 200), related to 
                        racial, gender, ethnic inclusion in grantmaking 
                        processes, and to negotiation of indirect 
                        costs, including a de minimis indirect cost 
                        rate;
                            (ii) promoting Federal agency compliance 
                        with the OMB Uniform Guidance to preserve the 
                        integrity of Federal programs while allowing 
                        nonprofit organizations streamlined access to 
                        Federal funding opportunities, expressly in the 
                        areas of payment by pass-through entities and 
                        others of indirect cost rates and establishment 
                        of a clearinghouse of agency decisions or other 
                        means for maintaining consistent interpretation 
                        of the OMB Uniform Guidance;
                            (iii) reviewing Federal statutes and 
                        regulations to identify inconsistent 
                        requirements and restrictions on payment of 
                        ``administrative costs'' and other terms and 
                        definitions, and consider the impact of 
                        inconsistent or conflicting rules on 
                        organizations seeking Federal and State pass-
                        through grants on their operations and 
                        sustainability;
                            (iv) assessing how grant agreements and 
                        reimbursements can be modified to enable and 
                        incentivize nonprofits to utilize government 
                        grant funds to provide relevant professional 
                        development to employees working on those 
                        grants, and to ensure that interns and those in 
                        apprenticeships working on government grants or 
                        contracts are paid rather than unpaid; and
                            (v) reporting its recommendations on the 
                        foregoing to the President and Congress, no 
                        later than 18 months after enactment, and 
                        addressing how grant and contract agreements 
                        and reimbursements should be modified to enable 
                        nonprofit grant recipients to respond to issues 
                        of national significance; and
                    (C) at the direction of the President, but no later 
                than 5 years after the release of the report described 
                in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the commission 
                shall reconvene to further review the operational 
                relationship between all levels of government and the 
                nonprofit sector and evaluate it for improvement.
    (c) Administration.--The President shall appoint a Nonprofit 
Advisor within 90 days of enactment of this legislation. The Nonprofit 
Advisor shall, in addition to being Director of the Office, serve as 
the head of the Interagency Council, co-chair of the Advisory Council, 
and responsible to carry out the provisions of this section and 
coordinate with executive departments as appropriate with respect to 
the mission of the Office and related governmental entities.

SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON NONPROFIT SECTOR PARTNERSHIP.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established in the executive branch an 
independent entity to be known as the Interagency Council on Nonprofit 
Sector Partnership.
    (b) Membership.--The Council shall be composed of the head of each 
cabinet agency, or their designee in addition to the--
            (1) Corporation for National and Community Service;
            (2) National Endowment for the Humanities;
            (3) National Endowment for the Arts;
            (4) National Science Foundation;
            (5) Institute of Museum and Library Services; and
            (6) other agencies as determined by the President.
    (c) Responsibilities.--The Interagency Council, shall issue 
biennial reports providing specific recommendations on how the 
nonprofit sector can best leverage and accelerate Federal investments 
to rebuild American communities and to offer specific recommendations 
for strengthening, promoting, and improving the overall ability of the 
nonprofit sector to address issues of national significance. These 
recommendations shall include consideration of--
            (1) improving Federal research and data access and 
        transparency, including by collecting and disseminating 
        disaggregated data and research relevant to the ability of the 
        nonprofit sector to respond to societal need;
            (2) consulting and partnering with nonprofits as an engine 
        of employment, preparing Americans for their first jobs or new 
        jobs, deploying national service members to rebuild communities 
        while acquiring valuable professional and civic skills and 
        career guidance;
            (3) legislation, regulation, and other action toward these 
        goals, including changes to the structure of the Interagency 
        Council;
            (4) Federal efforts that could have an impact on charitable 
        giving, volunteerism, and national service;
            (5) Federal investments that could bolster the civic 
        infrastructure of the United States, which in includes its 
        workforce, volunteer force, capacity of nonprofit institutions, 
        and the norms and practices that help communities solve 
        problems; and
            (6) how Federal technology policies and funding might be 
        more effectively aligned with the nonprofit sector and the 
        communities it serves.
    (d) Administration.--The Interagency Council shall be chaired by 
the Nonprofit Advisor and may accept staff detailed from Federal 
agencies to support coordination and implementation efforts. The 
Interagency Council shall meet no fewer than four times per year.

SEC. 6. ADVISORY BOARD ON THE NONPROFIT SECTOR.

    (a) Establishment.--There is hereby established under the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act, (Public Law 92-463), an Advisory Board on the 
Nonprofit Sector, co-chaired by the Nonprofit Advisor and a designee 
from the nonprofit sector, as appointed by the President and Congress 
as described below, except for subsection (b)(2)(B) of this section.
    (b) Membership.--
            (1) Number and appointment.--The Advisory Board shall be 
        composed of 16 members as follows:
                    (A) The Nonprofit Advisor and seven additional 
                members shall be appointed by the President.
                    (B) Two members shall be appointed by the Speaker 
                of the House of Representatives.
                    (C) Two members shall be appointed by the minority 
                leader of the House of Representatives.
                    (D) Two members shall be appointed by the majority 
                leader of the Senate.
                    (E) Two members shall be appointed by the minority 
                leader of the Senate.
            (2) With the exception of the Nonprofit Advisor, membership 
        of the Advisory Board shall be drawn from the nonprofit sector 
        to include designees with substantial and diverse experience 
        and points of view in the issues facing the nonprofit sector. 
        This shall include leading national organizations that 
        represent the interests of the broad sector, as well as 
        proportional representation to the extent possible from 
        representatives of large, medium and small nonprofit and 
        philanthropic organizations as determined by annual expenses 
        and include meaningful racial, gender, ethnic and geographic 
        diversity. The terms of members to the Advisory Board shall be 
        staggered between three and four years and renewable for one 
        term.
                    (A) Vacancies.--A vacancy on the Board shall be 
                filled in the manner in which the original appointment 
                was made.
                    (B) Basic pay and travel expenses.--With the 
                exception of the Nonprofit Advisor, all Voting Board 
                members shall, and nonvoting members may, be appointed 
                as special Government employees and receive a 
                consultant fee and be reimbursed for travel expenses, 
                including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same 
                manner as provided under the Federal Advisory Committee 
                Act, unless such compensation and reimbursement are 
                waived.
                    (C) Co-chairs.--The President shall designate the 
                Nonprofit Advisor as a co-chair of the Advisory Board 
                and select and additional Co-chair from among the 
                members of the Board, who may not be members of the 
                same political party.
    (c) Functions.--The Advisory Board shall issue biennial reports to 
Congress, as well as advise the President and the Interagency Council 
on matters involving policy affecting nonprofit sector, volunteerism, 
service, and other related topics. The Advisory Board shall meet 
regularly, upon the call of the co-chairs, and shall--
            (1) respond to requests from the President or the 
        President's designee for information, analysis, evaluation, or 
        advice;
            (2) solicit information and ideas from a broad range of 
        stakeholders;
            (3) in its biennial report, provide information on the 
        state of the nonprofit sector, volunteerism, charitable giving 
        and national service, as well as feedback on the effect of 
        Federal policies on each;
            (4) in its biennial report, provide recommendations on 
        legislative, regulatory, and executive actions to improve and 
        support the nonprofit sector and its partnerships with the 
        Federal Government;
            (5) in its biennial report, provide recommendations on 
        long-term opportunities to strengthen the nonprofit sector, 
        volunteerism, and national service through Federal actions and 
        policy; and
            (6) in its biennial report, include a statement analyzing 
        how any recommendations would impact the disparities between 
        members of different racial and ethnic groups.
    (d) Administration.--The heads of executive departments and 
agencies shall provide the Advisory Board with information concerning 
appropriate matters when requested by the Advisory Board Co-Chairs and 
as required for the purpose of carrying out the Advisory Board's 
functions, unless otherwise prohibited by law.

SEC. 7. VOLUNTEERISM AND CHARITABLE GIVING.

    (a) Treasury Department.--The Secretary of the Department of the 
Treasury shall--
            (1) analyze and publicly release the impact of relevant 
        statutes, regulations, and other actions on charitable giving 
        specifically and the nonprofit sector generally, including 
        analysis disaggregated by demographic factors whenever 
        possible; and
            (2) examine the reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on 
        Tax Exempt and Government Entities.
    (b) Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.--The Bureau of 
Labor Statistics shall within two years of enactment, issue a biennial 
report on trends in the non-stipended volunteer force.
    (c) Corporation for National and Community Service.--The 
Corporation for National and Community Service shall--
            (1) issue a comprehensive report assessing how CNCS can 
        best be structured and resourced to support the unique needs 
        and potential of both the non-stipended volunteer force and the 
        national service community. This assessment shall also consider 
        how underserved and marginalized communities can access service 
        programs. CNCS shall share that report with Congress within six 
        months of enactment and issue updates every two years, 
        thereafter;
            (2) review existing programs such as the Volunteer 
        Generation Fund and the Nonprofit Capacity Building Program to 
        determine how these programs might be strengthened and/or 
        expanded to ensure, among other critical functions, they will 
        support a wide diversity of nonprofits to build capacity to 
        engage, sustain, and support the volunteer force, and to share 
        such recommendations with Congress within six months of 
        enactment;
            (3) within 90 days of enactment, solicit input from the 
        nonprofit sector and the public about enhancing and revising 
        the Current Population Survey with supplements on--
                    (A) volunteerism;
                    (B) charitable giving; and
                    (C) civic engagement; and
            (4) within six months of enactment, present the findings of 
        the input described in paragraph (3) to Congress and the Office 
        on the Nonprofit Sector.

SEC. 8. NATIONAL SERVICE.

    The Corporation for National and Community Service shall--
            (1) by no later than one year from the date of enactment, 
        make recommendations to Congress on updating Service Year 
        Fellowships to broaden access to national service to 
        underserved and marginalized communities and provide increased 
        capacity for all section 501(c)(3) nonprofits in moments of 
        increased need; and
            (2) by no later than two years from the date of enactment, 
        redesign and relaunch the eGrants system, including user 
        testing that engages organizations who are not current grantees 
        and that represent or reach underserved and marginalized 
        communities to test barriers to submitting for a grant.

SEC. 9. GOVERNMENT RESEARCH AND DATA.

    (a) Treasury Department.--The Secretary of the Department of the 
Treasury shall--
            (1) in consultation with the Advisory Committee, make 
        recommendations to Congress on how to formulate the way data is 
        recorded concerning government grants, contracts, and 
        reimbursements to nonprofit organizations on Form 990, Return 
        of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, to increase the utility 
        and clarity of Form 990 information. The IRS will also take 
        steps to improve public access to 990 e-filed data, providing 
        the schema and metadata necessary to facilitate public use;
            (2) revoke the use of form 1023-EZ for nonprofit filing 
        status and initiate a process to replace it, based upon 
        recommendations from the Advisory Board, the nonprofit sector, 
        representatives of the National Association of State Charities 
        Officials and government examinations; and
            (3) in consultation with stakeholders in the nonprofit 
        sector, including the Advisory Board, consider and publicly 
        release recommendations, funding needs, and activities to 
        improve the nonprofit sector and to preserve integrity within 
        the sector and on behalf of the general public.
    (b) Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.--The Bureau of 
Labor Statistics shall include nonprofit organizations as a distinct 
category of employer in quarterly reports from its Quarterly Census of 
Employment and Wages. Within 90 days of enactment, the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics shall transmit a plan to Congress that will accomplish this 
goal.
    (c) Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.--The 
Bureau of Economic Analysis shall in consultation with the Advisory 
Committee, create a Satellite Account on Nonprofit and Related 
Institutions and Volunteer Work within its national accounts program. 
This account shall be published no less frequently than on a biennial 
basis.
    (d) White House, Office of Management and Budget.--The Office of 
Management and Budget shall--
            (1) solicit information from all relevant Federal agencies 
        that collect existing data on the nonprofit sector in all 
        published reports and publicly available tables and datasets 
        and direct these agencies to include existing data 
        disaggregated by the following factors--
                    (A) the number of clients served by nonprofit 
                organizations, including existing data on the race, 
                gender, age, income level, languages spoken and 
                geographic location of such clients;
                    (B) existing data on types of revenues, expenses, 
                and operating reserves by nonprofit organizations of 
                various sizes and missions;
                    (C) the volunteer hours contributed to nonprofit 
                organizations by individuals in the United States; and
                    (D) other factors in existing data as determined in 
                consultation with the Advisory Board; and
            (2) conduct an impact assessment of how government data 
        collection, algorithm use and accuracy may have a 
        discriminatory or disparate impact on nonprofit issues or 
        communities they serve, particularly underserved and 
        marginalized communities.

SEC. 10. NONPARTISAN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND ADVOCACY.

    The Government Accountability Office shall, within 1 year of 
enactment and after gathering input from the Advisory Board and the 
broader nonprofit sector, issue a report to Congress on--
            (1) opportunities to clarify the difference between 
        nonpartisan civic engagement and the current prohibition on 
        political campaign intervention for organizations organized 
        under section 501(c)(3) of title 26, United States Code; and
            (2) the role of the current ``facts and circumstances'' 
        standard for tax-exempt entities organized under provisions of 
        the Internal Revenue Code other than section 501(c)(3) of title 
        26, United States Code.

SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Nonprofit.--The term ``nonprofit'' or ``nonprofit 
        organization'' shall include the definition included in section 
        501(c)(3) of title 26, United States Code, and in addition 
        shall mean a group organized for purposes other than generating 
        profit and in which no part of the organization's income is 
        distributed to its members, directors, or officers.
            (2) Pass-through entity.--The term ``pass-through entity'' 
        shall include the definition included in section 200.1 of title 
        2, Code of Federal Regulations, a non-Federal entity that 
        provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a 
        Federal program.
            (3) Nonprofit advisor.--The term ``Nonprofit Advisor'' 
        means an individual who is--
                    (A) designated as an Assistant to the President;
                    (B) has experience working in the nonprofit sector 
                and government; and
                    (C) has demonstrated a commitment to strengthening 
                the partnership between the Federal Government and the 
                nonprofit sector.
            (4) Current population survey.--The term ``Current 
        Population Survey'' means the jointly sponsored survey 
        administered by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor 
        Statistics and approved by the Office of Management and Budget 
        (OMB Number 0607-0049).
            (5) Underserved and marginalized communities.--The term 
        ``underserved and marginalized communities'' means individuals 
        who are--
                    (A) American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black 
                or African American, Hispanic or Latino, or Native 
                Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, according to Office 
                of Management and Budget Statistical Policy Directive 
                No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal 
                Statistics and Administrative Reporting;
                    (B) rural populations;
                    (C) individuals with disabilities;
                    (D) low-income or homeless individuals;
                    (E) individuals with mental health or substance 
                related disorders;
                    (F) victims of abuse or trauma;
                    (G) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 
                individuals; or
                    (H) refugees or migrants.

SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out the provisions 
of this Act $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2023 and such sums as necessary 
for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2027.
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