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- HOLIDAY GREETINGS
- ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL NOT APPLY SARBANES-OXLEY TO NOT-FOR-PROFITS
- CONGRESS TO PASS OMNIBUS BUDGET BILL
HOLIDAY GREETINGS
NYSACRA’s 2005 Annual Conference theme, “From Community Living to Living Community” seems especially appropriate at this special time of year.
We are preparing to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, and maybe even some neighbors. We’re dropping off cans and boxes of food to local pantries and with our mail persons. We’re buying extra toys and giving them to “Toys for Tots” and other child-oriented programs. We’re stuffing turkeys, lighting candles, decorating our homes and putting up Christmas trees. And we’re attending services within our cities, towns and villages.
All of these are true examples of a “living community.” And it is this kind of sharing and good will that we hope the people we support will participate in throughout our communities.
And it is with this spirit that Ann Hardiman, the NYSACRA Board of Directors and staff, extend warm wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of our members.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL NOT APPLY SARBANES-OXLEY TO NOT-FOR-PROFITS
In an unexpected turnaround, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has decided not to apply laws regulating private companies to the not-for-profit sector.
Early last year, Spitzer had proposed a version of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act for New York’s nonprofits.
Sarbanes-Oxley seeks to prevent financial fraud among corporations by giving executive officers and directors greater responsibility in a company’s financial controls, and prohibiting auditors from having business contracts with the company. It would also prohibit chief executive officers from serving on the board of directors.
Spitzer’s re-evaluation of the situation led him to favor educating directors and officers of not-for-profit corporations, rather than imposing new laws.
CONGRESS TO PASS OMNIBUS BUDGET BILL
Congressional lawmakers in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are working on an omnibus appropriations bill. Congress had failed to pass 9 of its 13 required spending bills before its election recess, leaving much of the government - with the exception of the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security - to operate under an continuing appropriations measure. Most federal agencies are operating at fiscal 2004 levels under a continuing resolution as the Senate awaits House action Wednesday on a correction to the fiscal 2005 omnibus spending package they just passed. President Bush yesterday signed the latest stopgap spending measure with a new continuing resolution (H J Res 114), which expires December 3, 2004.
The new omnibus bill includes all 9 of those outstanding spending bills. The Senate voted 65-30 to clear the omnibus bill, but the package will not be enrolled and sent to the president for his signature until the House acts on a resolution (H Con Res 528) to strike a controversial provision that would allow its Appropriations chairman and staff to see individual tax returns. The House is expected to act on that measure Wednesday by voice vote, without recalling most members.
Negotiations on the stalled Intelligence bill will continue and the House will not formally adjourn for the year, however, many lawmakers said the legislation was effectively dead. Saturday was supposed to be the last day of business for the House and Senate in their so-called lame-duck session after the election, with many lawmakers not expected to return to Washington until January. However, the House officially recessed until Wednesday, November 24th, and the Senate recessed until Tuesday, December 7th.
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