Last week we published several stories about Italy organizations losing their state charters. The Texas Secretary of State used terrible words like “dissolved” and “forfeited” which sounds like the end of the world. It’s not. It’s paperwork. But what does it mean? That’s what we wanted to find out.

The law states that anyone is a company unto themselves. That is, you have a right to conduct business in your own name, any time you want. Then why do we have corporations, non-profits, associations? Short answer: liability and taxes. Liability? Yes. If you conduct business in your own name, take money, use it, and then get sued. You — as in you and your name — get sued. You can lose everything. But if you create a legal organization, it gets sued. That’s one of many reasons why a legal organization is important.

There are four organizations dissolved by the Texas Secretary of State:

• Italy Economic Development Corporation
• Italy Historical Preservation Commission
• Italy Chamber of Commerce
• Italy Youth Baseball, Inc.

We also noted that no registration exists for the Italy Youth Athletic Association (IYAA). So we’ll start with them.

Italy Youth Athletic Association

Registration with the state is only one form of organizing. For corporations there are all sorts of legal reasons why you really must file with the state. For non-profits, a Texas charter is less important than an IRS registration.

Gary Wood, an officer with the IYAA, said that they have a 501(c)(3) from the IRS. This is the best registration they could have for running the IYAA. Donations are tax deductible and there are a lot of legal protections provided a 501(c)(3) company. In this case, registration with the state reserves the IYAA name for exclusive use in Texas.

Wood said they are probably going to register with the State of Texas and Ellis County to protect their name and to keep this kind of question from coming up again.

Italy Youth Baseball, Inc.

From every conversation I’ve had, the Italy Youth Baseball, Inc. (IYB) allowed their charter to expire on purpose. Wood said they were told this would happen years ago and the current baseball and softball leagues are now all under the IYAA.

Italy Chamber of Commerce

I talked to Susan Delephimne, President of the Chamber of Commerce, she said their first step is to correct the address on the Texas records. The current address, 501 Houston Street, doesn’t exist. No one received the letters from the state. Susan is getting it switched to city hall so all future correspondence will be received.

After that, they are going to do what is necessary to get everything back in order.

Italy Economic Development Corporation

We’ve already reported that the Italy EDC is renewing their charter. This is a good thing. The State of Texas is where they really must be registered because the EDC can only exist under Texas law.

Italy Historical Preservation Commission

The Italy Historical Preservation Commission appears to be inactive. No meetings are being held. Nothing is currently happening.

I talked to the former president of the historical commission, Randy Muirhead. He said they worked very hard to get a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS and the state registration. He’s concerned that there isn’t enough interest to keep the historical commission together.

It’s clear that every organization except the historical commission has the registration problem well in hand. If the historical commission continues as-is, they are in danger of losing their 501(c)(3) status. Moreover, what will happen to any current assets the commission owns? What about the old church?