The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing in June on charitable donations of land, a committee staff member said April 28.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing in June on charitable donations of land, a committee staff member said April 28.

The staff member, speaking at a Washington program on exempt organizations that was sponsored by the Georgetown University Law Center, also said Finance is wrapping up its report on The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which the committee has been investigating for possible abuses involving conservation easements. The report will discuss the committee's findings, improvements undertaken by TNC, and recommendations concerning land donations, including enhanced deductions for donations of open space, according to the staff member.

Overall charity reform proposals that have been made during the past year by Finance staff, the Joint Committee on Taxation staff, and a panel convened by Independent Sector were also discussed. Staff members were not able to say when any recommendations will be proposed as legislation, although one said that could take place in the "near future."

One staff member insisted the recommendations in the Finance discussion draft do not amount to a type of Sarbanes-Oxley law for nonprofits. When an audience member reported that some exempts are behaving as if this were the case and adopting Sarbanes-Oxley-style reforms, another staff member suggested it is good that organizations are doing that, but reiterated that the Finance staff proposals are not as strict as the 2002 corporate governance rules.