There will soon be a new chief in town when it comes to monitoring the activities of New York charitable organizations. According to a report last week in the Wall Street Journal, James Sheehan was named the head of a state agency known as the Charities Bureau. This entity may not be a well-understood by most community members, but it plays a role in trust regulation and other activities which hit upon estate planning matters.
The New Chief
Mr. Sheehan is well known to many in the estate planning elder law community as the former New York Medicaid inspector general. The inspector general is charged with acting as a check on the system to watch out for misdeed and violations. It is that same commitment to enforcement and transparency in activities that Sheehan will take to the new office.
Speaking about his new role, Sheehan explained that he viewed himself as a “compliance officer.” In other words, instead of acting aggressively to root out misdeeds, he hoped to help “organizations do the job that they are here to do.”
Sheehan likely felt the need to point out the distinction in order to quell concerns about his reputation as an “aggressive enforcer.” While working as the Medicaid inspector general, he acted vigilantly to ensure state funds were not misspent, leading to sharp disagreement with many in the healthcare industry who felt his actions were unfair and overly forceful.
Regulating Charities in NY
The Charities Bureau has a mixed charge, focusing on ensuring proper oversight of state non-profits, legal use of charitable trusts, and management of various public outreach programs. In fact, this years will mark the first where the Bureau makes use of expanded powers passed into law by the state legislature in December.
The New York Nonprofit Revitalization Act will take effect this summer. The Charities Bureau will be in charge of implementing this Act which, at its core, is intended to ease the somewhat complex regulatory stresses that many nonprofits face in the state. This will be in addition to the traditional duties of the government entity to guard against fraud and other violations.
Many New York residents include charitable donations and create charitable trusts as part of their estate planning. As changes take place at the Charities Bureau, it will be important to keep a close eye on the developments to determine if any of the alternations impact long-term planning options or strategies.