Source: http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB202%20ENR.htm&yr=2014&sesstype=RS&i=202
Timestamp: 2018-06-20 09:40:06
Document Index: 650957321

Matched Legal Cases: ['§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31', '§31']

[Passed March 7, 2014; to take effect July 1, 2014]
AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new chapter, designated §31F-1-101, §31F-1-102, §31F-1-103, §31F-2-201, §31F-2-202, §31F-2-203, §31F-3-301, §31F-4-401, §31F-4-402, §31F-4-403 and §31F-5-501, all relating to authorizing a corporation to elect to be a benefit corporation; authorizing a corporation to amend its articles of incorporation to include a statement that the corporation is a benefit corporation; authorizing a corporation to terminate status as a benefit corporation; authorizing the articles of a benefit corporation to identify as one of the purposes of the benefit corporation the creation of specific public benefits; establishing that a director shall not have a duty to a certain person; providing that a director shall have immunity from liability under certain circumstances; requiring a benefit corporation to deliver to each stockholder an annual report; defining terms; and generally relating to benefit corporations.
(a) “Benefit corporation” means a corporation organized pursuant to the provisions of this chapter:
(b) “Benefit enforcement proceeding” means any claim or action brought directly by a benefit corporation, or derivatively on behalf of a benefit corporation, against a director or officer for: (i) Failure to pursue the general public benefit purpose of the benefit corporation or any specific public benefit purpose set forth in its articles of incorporation or bylaws or otherwise adopted by its board of directors; or (ii) a violation of a duty or standard of conduct under this article.
(c) “General public benefit” means a material positive impact on society and the environment taken as a whole, as measured by a third-party standard, from the business and operations of a benefit
(d) “Independent” means having no material relationship with a benefit corporation or a subsidiary of the benefit corporation, either directly as a shareholder of the benefit corporation or as a partner, a member or an owner of a subsidiary of the benefit corporation or indirectly as a director, an officer, an owner, or a manager of an entity that has a material relationship with the benefit corporation or a subsidiary of the benefit corporation. A material relationship between a person and a benefit corporation or any of its subsidiaries will be conclusively presumed to exist if:
(e) “Specific public benefit” means a benefit that serves one or more public welfare, religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, or other purpose or benefit beyond the strict interest of the shareholders of the benefit corporation, including:
(f) “Subsidiary” means, in relation to an individual, an entity in which the individual either: (i) Owns directly or indirectly equity interests entitled to cast a majority of the votes entitled to be cast generally in an election of directors or members of the governing body of the entity; or (ii) otherwise owns or controls voting or contractual power to exercise effective governing control of the entity. The percentage of ownership of equity interests or ownership or control of power to exercise control shall be calculated as if all outstanding rights to acquire equity interests in the entity had been exercised.
(g) “Third-party standard” means a recognized standard for defining, reporting, and assessing corporate social and environmental performance that:
(b) The creation of a general public benefit and one or more specific public benefits, if any, under subsection (a) of this section is in the best interests of the benefit corporation.
(c) A benefit corporation may amend its articles of incorporation to add, amend or delete the identification of a specific public benefit that it is the purpose of the benefit corporation to create, which amendment shall be adopted in accordance with the procedures set forth in article ten, chapter thirty-one-d of this code.
(a) Subject to article eight, chapter thirty-one-d of this code, in discharging the duties of their respective positions and in considering the best interests of the benefit corporation, the board of directors, committees of the board and individual directors of a benefit corporation:
(A) The resources; intent; and past, stated and potential conduct of any person seeking to acquire control of the benefit corporation; and
(b) The consideration of interests and factors in the manner required by subsection (a) of this section does not constitute a violation of section eight hundred thirty, article eight, chapter thirty-one-d of this code or a director conflict of interests under section eight hundred sixty, article eight, chapter thirty-one-d of this code.
An officer of a benefit corporation has no liability for actions taken that the officer believes, in his or her good faith business judgment, are consistent with: (i) The general public benefit or specific public benefit specified in the articles of incorporation or bylaws or otherwise adopted by the board of directors; and (ii) the requirements of any third-party standard then in effect for the corporation.
(a) The duties of directors and officers under this chapter, the obligation of a benefit corporation to prepare and make available the annual benefit report required under section five hundred one, article five of this chapter and the general and any specific public benefit purpose of a benefit corporation may be enforced only in a benefit enforcement proceeding. No person may bring an action or assert a claim against a benefit corporation or its directors or officers with respect to the duties of directors and officers under this article and the general and any specific public benefit purpose of the benefit corporation except in a benefit enforcement proceeding.