Interested parties have until July 28 to file comments on Proposed Rules Changes for charitable organizations issued by Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro on June 30. The Attorney General's Fact Sheet says: "Faith-based organizations that are not closely controlled by churches, including many hospitals and a few nursing homes, would be required to file an annual report under the new rules. However, the rules would clarify that churches and strictly religious organizations remain exempt from registration."
An accompanying press release explains that "the rules are aimed at reducing the potential for problems such as excessive executive compensation and expense reimbursements by charities and hospitals, or conflicts of interest in business contracts let by governing boards... The proposal is also designed to foster best practices by charitable hospitals and other proprietary charitable organizations in billing, collection, and charity care, and to set standard guidelines in Ohio for reporting how charitable organizations benefit the community so the public can make meaningful comparisons of their charitable activities. [It requires] ... larger charitable organizations to either adopt a set of policies prescribed in the rules or publicly disclose their board-approved conflicts of interest, whether they have allowed insiders to approve their own compensation, all payments to board members by the charity, insider loans, and the like."
