The AALS Section on Nonprofit & Philanthropy Law has issued a Call for Papers on The Federalization of Nonprofit and Charity Law to be presented at the 2011 AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco on January 4-8, 2011:

Except with respect to eligibility for exemption from the federal income tax, nonprofit and charity law developments have historically been the province of state law edict. Thus, in the areas of formation and dissolution, fiduciary duty, and charitable solicitation, scholars, courts, law makers and others have looked to the state of domicile or similar basis to determine what law applies. This state of affairs appears, to some, to be changing. For example, the IRS, in its role as interpreter of federal tax laws concerning charities, recently issued a new IRS Form 990 which seems to seek information that well exceeds the bounds of what is called for by Congress. Similarly, though hospitals are facially concerned with federal tax laws solely in order to maintain tax exempt status, the close scrutiny of Congress in recent years has transformed many non-tax aspects of hospital operations. These are just a few examples. The question is: What are, or should be, the limits of federal regulation, through the guise of tax law, of nonprofit and charitable entities? This call for papers seeks scholarly analysis of this very broad topic.

3-5 papers will be selected for presentation at AALS and for publication in the Kentucky Law Journal. The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday, April 30, 2010. For more information or to submit an abstract, contact Nancy A. McLaughlin (Utah).