I am once again looking forward to speaking at the Western New York Fire District Officers Legislative Association Workshop in Batavia, New York, on September 27, 2014.  As I did last year, I wanted to write a short post as a resource for those attend.  Unfortunately, several of the documents I intended to reference (with links) are publications of the New York State Comptroller’s Office, and that website seems to be unavailable at the moment.

Although there will be a lot of important topics covered by the panelists, I will focus my remarks on two areas: (1) recent amendments to the procurement statutes; and (2) a general discussion of the Nonprofit Revitalization Act of 2013, and its applicability to volunteer fire companies.

Last year, I spent quite a bit of time discussing the expanded “piggybacking” exception to competitive bidding in New York.  Shortly after last year’s conference, the statute was amended again to further expand this exception to include contracts awarded on the basis of “best value” in a manner consistent with New York’s bidding statutes.  Following this amendment, the Comptroller issued an amended bulletin in November 2013, expanding on its earlier discussion.  There is a link to the bulletin in my post from last year, and it should bring you to the updated bulletin.

Shortly before the Nonprofit Revitalization Act of 2013 became effective on July 1, 2014, one of my colleagues wrote an excellent summary of the key provisions of the Act.  A copy of the article, Nonprofit Best Practices Now Mandatory, may be downloaded by following the link.  If you would like to have one of our attorneys review your company’s bylaws and make recommended changes to ensure compliance with the Act, please feel free to contact me.

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