S. 1684: Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 2015

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S. 1684: Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 2015

114th Congress · introduced 2015-06-25 · Law · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

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Official title

Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 2015

Plain summary

Volunteer Organization Protection Act of 2015 Amends the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 to expand liability protections to volunteer nonprofit organizations for harm caused by an act or omission of a volunteer on behalf of the organization. Prohibits such liability protections from applying if the organization: (1) would be liable under laws governing the direct or vicarious liability of organizations, and (2) expressly authorized the specific conduct constituting the act or omission. Bars such an organization from liability for harm caused by the organization, or a volunteer acting on its behalf, if the act or omission was at the request of, or pursuant to an authorization by, the federal government, a state government, or another governmental subdivision, provided that: (1) the requesting or authorizing governmental entity would have been immune from suit or from liability in damages if the entity had engaged in the act or omission itself or through an employee, agent, or independent contractor; or (2) any governmental employee, agent, or contractor who had engaged in the act or omission on behalf of the requesting or authorizing governmental entity would have been immune from suit or from liability in damages by virtue of immunity extended to individual governmental actors. Prohibits punitive damages from being awarded against a volunteer nonprofit organization for the actions of a volunteer within the scope of the volunteer's responsibilities to the organization unless the claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the organization itself expressly authorized the volunteer's action with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed. Sets forth factors to be considered to determine whether a nonprofit organization is presumed to be a volunteer nonprofit organization.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

The strongest published arguments

Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL] · 3 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

John Hoeven (R-ND), Jerry Moran (R-KS)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114s1684.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/s>

Record fed-us-cong114-s1684 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114