Bill would give rejected charities second chance at fund-raiser
NASHVILLE (AP) — Charities whose applications to hold gambling fund-raisers were rejected by the secretary of state would get a second chance under legislation approved Tuesday in a state House subcommittee.
Rep. Harry Tindell, who sponsored legislation authorizing the events, helped write the new bill after 48 of the 83 organizations that submitted applications by last week’s deadline failed to meet all the requirements.
The measure was approved by the House State and Local Government Committee and sent to the Finance Committee for consideration Wednesday. It could be before the full chamber by Thursday morning, Tindell said.
The legalization of charity gambling was included in the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2002 that cleared the way for the state lottery. The law passed by the General Assembly set guidelines.
Tindell said the short time charities were given to complete and send the paperwork caused most of the rejections. The bill allowing the fund-raisers received final legislative approval April 5, and charities had until April 20 to submit applications.
Problems that caused the applications to be rejected included having the wrong charity executive sign the paper, failure to hold the charity board meeting required for approval and listing a range of dates for the event instead of one specific date.
“What we want to do is give everybody the opportunity to fix those things that were minor and clerical and administrative in nature,” said Tindell, D-Knoxville. “We’re not trying to change the criteria or reopen the application process.”
Under Tindell’s proposal, the secretary of state’s office would inform charities why their applications were denied. The nonprofits would have until noon on May 10 to submit an amended event application, which, if approved, would allow them to hold a gambling fund-raiser this year.
“We’ll put (the information) on our Web site, notify folks by mail to let them know they have a second shot in getting it done,” Secretary of State Riley Darnell told the committee.
Legislators then must approve — by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate — the entire list of charities permitted by the secretary of state to raise funds.
Organizations that missed the April 20 noon deadline for applications would not get a second chance for consideration, Tindell said.
“The deadline is the deadline,” he said. “There’s no way to open this up and make it fair and to process them in a timely manner before we adjourn.”
Earlier in the day, Rep. Tre’ Hargett, R-Bartlett, warned his House colleagues they must be “real careful about this.”
“Are we going to set a precedent allowing people to amend their applications at the last minute?” he asked.
Rep. Rob Briley, who is sponsoring the bill in the House, said they wouldn’t, but would instead just offer a “vehicle to provide assistance if we deem it appropriate to do so.”
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On the Net:
Read HB3390/SB3078 at Tennessee General Assembly, www.legislature.state.tn.us