§ 173. Professional fund-raisers, commercial co-venturers and fund
raising counsel. 1. Registration and bond required. No person shall act
as a professional fund raiser or fund raising counsel on behalf of a
charitable organization required to be registered pursuant to this
article before registering with the attorney general or after the
expiration or cancellation of such registration or any renewal thereof.
Applications for registration and re-registration shall be in writing,
under oath, in the form prescribed by the attorney general and shall be
accompanied by an annual fee in the sum of eight hundred dollars. A
professional fund raiser shall at the time of filing each application
for registration or re-registration, file with, and have approved by,
the attorney general a bond. In said bond, the filer shall be the
principal obligor, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, with one or more
sureties whose liability in the aggregate as such sureties will at least
equal the said sum. The bond which may be in the form of a rider to a
larger blanket liability bond shall run to the attorney general for the
use of the state and to any person who may have a cause of action
against the obligor of said bond for any malfeasance or misfeasance in
the conduct of such solicitation. Registration or re-registration when
effected shall be for a period of one year, expiring one year from the
date of registration or re-registration and may be renewed upon written
application, under penalties for perjury, in the form prescribed by the
attorney general and the filing of the bond and the fee prescribed
herein for each additional one year period. Applications for
registration and re-registration and bonds, when filed with the attorney
general, shall become public records of the attorney general. If there
is any material change in the information provided in any such
application for registration or re-registration, the applicant or
registrant shall notify the attorney general, under penalties for
perjury, in writing within twenty days of such change.

2. Books and records. A professional fund raiser, commercial
co-venturer and fund raising counsel shall maintain accurate and current
books and records of all activities conducted pursuant to contracts
required under section one hundred seventy-three-a of this article;
which, until at least three years shall have elapsed after the end of
the effective period of the contract to which they relate, shall be kept
in such person's office available for inspection and examination and/or
audit by the charitable organization and/or attorney general or any duly
authorized representative. Provided, however, that any such books and
records obtained by the attorney general shall not be available to the
public for inspection. A professional fund raiser, commercial
co-venturer and fund raising counsel shall, within seven days of a
request of any charitable organization with which it has contracted,
provide copies of such records to the charitable organization.

3. Violations. Any person who wilfully violates the provisions of this
section is guilty of a misdemeanor.