§ 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.