reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
TN Code § 65-22-105 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 22 - Light, Heat and Power Companies|§ 65-22-105. Manufacture and Sale of Ice or Other Products

  Corporations for the purpose of engaging in the business of generating and furnishing electric light or power, may engage in the business of manufacturing and selling, at wholesale or retail, ice, or other products.   Such electric light and power corporations, as exercise the power given by subsection (a), shall pay the same privilege taxes therefor on such manufacturing and retail or wholesale trade of manufactured products as other corporations incorporated for such manufacturing purposes are required to pay, in addition to the privilege taxes required by law for engaging in the electric light and power business.
TN Code § 65-22-106 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 22 - Light, Heat and Power Companies|§ 65-22-106. Consolidation

 A corporation organized to engage in the business of a water company, may combine in its charter the powers, duties and liabilities of a lighting and power company, and engage in the latter business; and vice versa.   Mod. Code 1932, § 4075; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 65-2209.   Collateral References.   Consolidation and merger under power of eminent domain of public utility corporations, constitutionality of statutes providing for. 66 A.L.R. 1568.
TN Code § 65-25-101 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-101. Short Title — Legislative Findings

  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperative Act.”    The general assembly finds that rural electric cooperatives, since their inception fifty (50) years ago, have proved to be ideal business organizations in providing adequate and reliable electric services at reasonable rates throughout the rural communities of Tennessee. There are growing needs and demands for other comparable utility services in Tennessee's rural communities, including the need for television reception and programming services which are already available, for the most part, in the state's urban areas. As proved to be the case in providing electric service in rural communities, it is vital that the area coverage principle be applied in providing other utility services in the more sparsely settled areas of the state. It is, therefore, in the public's best interest that rural electric cooperatives be empowered to provide such services and that new cooperatives may be organized for such purposes.   The general assembly finds that unfair and unwelcomed efforts may be made in Tennessee, as they recently have in other states, whereby absentee-owned profit power companies will attempt the acquisition of properties and the take-over of the businesses of rural electric cooperatives, and thereby disrupt Tennessee's long-standing and successful policy of providing rural electric services through nonprofit, cooperative organizations. It is, therefore, in the public's best interest that laws affecting such efforts will provide fair and equitable due process procedures and standards so as to ensure that such acquisitions will not be accomplished if inimical to the best interests of the rural citizens who will be affected.   The general assembly further finds that Tennessee statutes currently governing electric cooperatives have not been comprehensively revised since their initial enactment. It is, therefore, in the public interest that cooperative business organizations, their respective members and the rural communities of the state would be better served by updating such statutes to make them more compatible with changed conditions and to appropriately reconcile such statutes with the new Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act, compiled in title 48, Chapters 51 68.
TN Code § 65-25-103 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-103. Nonprofit Organization and Operation

 Electric cooperatives heretofore incorporated under the former “Electric Cooperative Law” or hereafter incorporated under this chapter shall be organized and operated on a nonprofit basis and without pecuniary gain, and shall furnish their services on an area coverage basis at the lowest cost consistent with sound business principles.
TN Code § 65-25-106 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-106. Bylaws

  The original bylaws of a cooperative shall be adopted by its board. Thereafter, bylaws shall be changed by adoption, amendment, or repeal by its members, except that:  The members may, by bylaw provision, delegate to the board the power to change all or any specified provision of the bylaws, but such delegation shall not forfeit or restrict the right of the members thereafter to change such provision, whether or not the board has theretofore exercised such delegated power; and   Either the board or the members of a cooperative may change any bylaw when, as established by law, such bylaw is illegal or has become a legal nullity.     A bylaw may not be changed unless a copy or an accurate summary explanation thereof is contained in or with the notice of the member or board meeting at which it is to be acted upon; a proposed change so noticed may be amended from the floor of a board meeting if the floor amendment is germane thereto, but it may not be so amended from the floor of a member meeting unless such floor amendment is germane thereto and the bylaws provide that such floor amendment is allowable. Except as may otherwise be determined by the board, a change of the bylaws proposed by individual members shall not be so noticed to or acted upon by the members at a member meeting unless a petition setting forth with particularity the wording of the proposed change shall be filed with the cooperative over the signatures of as many as, but no less than, fifty (50) members at least forty-five (45) days prior to the date of such member meeting; provided, that the board need not notice any bylaw change proposed by such a petition if it determined that, if adopted, the change would be illegal or a legal nullity. The time of the effectiveness of any change shall be as determined by its own wording or as fixed in the wording of the resolution by which it is adopted.
TN Code § 65-25-108 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-108. Election of Directors by Districts

   Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the bylaws may provide that the territory in which a cooperative furnishes service shall be divided into two (2) or more directorate districts for the purpose of:  Having nominated therefrom, at and by district meetings of the members thereof or by any other manner provided for in the bylaws, candidates for directors to be voted upon by the cooperative's members at-large; or   Both nominating and electing directors therefrom at and by district meetings of the members.     The composition of such districts shall have an equitable regard for the number of members served therein, other communities of interest and boundaries that are readily ascertainable. District descriptions need not be contained in the bylaws proper but may be incorporated therein by reference to maps, drawings or other descriptions which, at a cooperative's offices, are accessible to the members for inspection at all reasonable times. To be eligible for election and to serve as a district director, a person must be a member of the cooperative, must reside therein, must receive service from the cooperative, and, in the case of a cooperative having the primary purpose, must receive from the cooperative electric service therein at such person's primary residential abode. In addition to district directors, the bylaws may provide for one (1) or more directors at-large to be nominated in such manner as provided in the bylaws and to be voted upon by the members at-large.      Except as to the minimum and maximum periods prior to a member meeting within which a district meeting shall be held and the notice and quorum requirements therefor, all of which shall be provided for in the bylaws, the board shall fix the date, time and place within a district for holding, and shall adopt the plans, procedures and manner for conducting, directorate district meetings.    Except as provided in subdivision (b)(2)(B), the bylaws may provide that members may vote for the election of district directors by mail ballot at a directorate district meeting; provided, that the bylaws shall contain a description of the voting procedure, which procedure shall be designed to ensure the integrity of such district director election.   In any electric cooperative organized pursuant to this chapter, that, as reported in the June 30, 1998, TVA 4171 report, served between forty thousand eight hundred (40,800) and forty thousand nine hundred (40,900) customers, and had in service between four thousand fifteen (4,015) and four thousand twenty-five (4,025) miles of power line, no member may vote by mail ballot at a directorate district meeting.
TN Code § 65-25-109 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-109. Election of Directors by Member Cooperatives

 The bylaws of a cooperative whose membership consists wholly of one (1) or more other cooperatives shall provide for the manner of nominating and electing its directors, and the bylaws may provide that directors shall be elected from among the members, directors, officers or executive or administrative employees of member cooperatives and/or that its directors shall be either nominated or elected or appointed solely by such member cooperatives' boards.
TN Code § 65-25-110 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-110. Officers of Cooperative

  The principal officers of a cooperative shall consist of a president and/or chair, vice president and/or vice chair, secretary, and treasurer, who shall be elected annually by and from the board. No person shall continue to hold any of the above offices after having ceased to be a director. The offices of secretary and of treasurer may be held by the same person.   The board may also elect or appoint such other officers, agents or employees as it shall deem necessary or advisable and shall prescribe their powers and duties.   Subject to the removal of directors as may be provided for in the bylaws, any officer elected or appointed by the board may by the board be removed from such office and a successor elected or appointed whenever the board determines that such action is in the cooperative's best interests.
TN Code § 65-25-112 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-112. Refunds to Patrons

  With respect to the supplying or furnishing of service by a cooperative in pursuance of the primary purpose, the revenues therefrom for any fiscal year, in excess of the amount thereof necessary, to:  Defray expenses of the cooperative, including the operation and maintenance of its facilities during such fiscal year;   Pay interest and principal obligations of the cooperative coming due in such fiscal year;   Finance, or to provide a reserve to finance, the construction or acquisition by the cooperative of additional facilities to the extent determined by the board;   Provide a reasonable reserve for working capital;   Provide a reserve for the payment of indebtedness of the cooperative maturing more than one (1) year after the date of the incurrence of such indebtedness in an amount not less than the total of the interest and principal payments in respect thereof required to be made during the next following fiscal year; and   Provide a fund for education in cooperation and for the dissemination of information concerning the effective use and conservation of electric power and energy and concerning any other services made available by the cooperative;  shall be distributed by the cooperative to patrons in the manner provided for in the bylaws, either:   As patronage refunds prorated in accordance with the patronage of the cooperative by the respective patrons paid for during or with respect to such fiscal year;   By way of general reductions of rates or other charges; or   By any combination of methods in (b)(1)-(3).       With respect to the supplying or furnishing of services in pursuance of one (1) or more secondary purposes, the revenues of a cooperative shall, as separately accounted for and determined for each such service, be first applied as provided in subdivisions (a)(1)-(6) and then distributed to the patrons of each such service in the manner provided for in the bylaws, either:  As patronage refunds prorated in accordance with the patronage of the cooperative by the respective patrons paid for during or with respect to such fiscal year;   By way of general reductions of rates or other charges;   By crediting patrons with having furnished the cooperative capital in amounts equal to the amounts of their patronage not refunded pursuant to subdivision (b)(1) and not used for general reduction of rates or other changes pursuant to subdivision (b)(2), all or any portion of such capital to be redeemable and be retired at such later time as the board in its sole discretion determines that such will not impair the cooperative's financial condition and will be in the cooperative's best interests; or   By any combination of methods in subdivisions (b)(1)-(3).     Nothing contained in subsection (a) or (b) shall be construed to prohibit the payment by a cooperative of all or any part of its indebtedness prior to the date when the same shall become due.
TN Code § 65-25-114 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-114. Other Disposition, Lease or Encumbrance of Assets and Properties

  A cooperative having the primary purpose only or one (1) or more secondary purposes only may otherwise dispose of, lease, mortgage or otherwise encumber all or a substantial portion of its assets and properties that are devoted to and used or useful in pursuance of the primary purpose only or of one (1) or more of its secondary purposes only upon the proposal therefor being first approved and recommended by its board and submitted to the members for their consideration and action at a special member meeting called by the board for that purpose or at a regular annual member meeting, the notice of which shall contain or be accompanied by a copy of the proposed disposition, lease, mortgage or other encumbrance or by an accurate summary explanation thereof. Such proposal shall be approved and authorized if it receives the affirmative votes of as many as, but not fewer than, two thirds (2/3) of the members voting thereon.   A cooperative having both the primary and one (1) or more secondary purposes may otherwise dispose of, lease, mortgage or otherwise encumber all or a substantial portion of its assets and properties devoted to and used or useful in pursuance of one (1) or more secondary purposes upon the proposal therefor being approved and authorized by its board only, unless its bylaws require the approval of the members.   Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), or in any other law, or a cooperative's articles of incorporation or bylaws, the board of a cooperative, without authorization or approval of the members thereof, shall have full power and authority to authorize the execution and delivery of a mortgage or mortgages or deed or deeds of trust upon, or the pledging or encumbrancing of, any or all of the assets and properties of the cooperative, whether acquired or to be acquired, and wherever situated, as well as the revenues and income therefrom, all upon such terms and conditions as the board shall determine, to secure any indebtedness of the cooperative to the United States or any instrumentality or agency thereof, or to any corporation or financial institution authorized to assist in the credit and financial needs of cooperatives, or to any other source of finance.
TN Code § 65-25-115 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-115. Directors, Officers or Members May Take Acknowledgments

 No person who is authorized to take acknowledgments under the laws of this state shall be disqualified from taking acknowledgments of instruments executed in favor of a cooperative or to which it is a party by reason of being a director, officer or member of such cooperative.
TN Code § 65-25-116 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-116. Recordation of Mortgages — Priority

  Any mortgage, deed of trust, or other instrument executed by a cooperative which, by its terms, creates a lien upon real and personal property, then owned or after-acquired, and which is recorded as a mortgage of real property in any county in which such property is located or is to be located, shall have the same force and effect as if the mortgage, deed of trust, or other instrument were also recorded or filed in the proper office in such county as a mortgage of personal property.   Recordation of any such mortgage, deed of trust, or other instrument shall cause the lien thereof to attach to all after-acquired property of the mortgagor of the nature therein described as being mortgaged or pledged thereby immediately upon the acquisition of such property by the mortgagor, and such lien shall be superior to all claims of creditors of the mortgagor and purchasers of such property and to all other liens, except liens of prior record and tax liens, affecting such property.
TN Code § 65-25-117 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-117. Consolidation

 Any two (2) or more cooperatives, each of which is hereinafter designated a “consolidating cooperative,” may consolidate into a new cooperative, hereinafter designated the “new cooperative,” by complying with the following requirements:   The proposition for the consolidation and proposed articles of consolidation to give effect thereto shall be first approved by the board of each consolidating cooperative or by the board or boards of one (1) or more other cooperatives when proposed by at least three hundred (300) members of a cooperative in the manner provided by § 65-25-113(a)(2)(D). The proposed articles of consolidation shall recite in the caption that they are executed pursuant to this chapter, and shall state:  The name of each consolidating cooperative, the address of its principal office, and the date of the filing of its articles of incorporation in the office of the secretary of state;   The name of the new cooperative and the address of its principal office;   The names and addresses of the persons who shall constitute the first board of the new cooperative;   The terms and conditions of the consolidation and the mode of carrying the same into effect, including the manner and basis of converting memberships in each consolidating cooperative into memberships in the new cooperative; and   Any provisions not inconsistent with this chapter deemed necessary or advisable for the conduct of the business and affairs of the new cooperative;     The proposition for the consolidation and the proposed articles of consolidation shall then be submitted to a vote of the members of each consolidating cooperative at any annual or special meeting thereof, the notice of which shall set forth full particulars concerning the proposed consolidation. The proposed consolidation and proposed articles of consolidation shall be approved upon receiving the affirmative votes of as many as, but not fewer than, two thirds (2/3) of those members of each consolidating cooperative voting thereon at each such meeting; and   Upon such approvals, articles of consolidation in the form approved shall be executed and acknowledged on behalf of each consolidating cooperative by its president or vice president and attested by its secretary, who shall affix the cooperative seal thereto if it has and employs such a seal. The presidents or vice presidents shall also make and annex thereto affidavits stating that the provisions of this section were duly complied with by their respective cooperatives. Such articles of consolidation and affidavits shall be submitted to the secretary of state for filing as provided in this chapter.
TN Code § 65-25-118 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 65 - Public Utilities and Carriers|Chapter 25 - Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperatives|§ 65-25-118. Merger

 One (1) or more cooperatives, each of which is hereinafter designated a “merging cooperative,” may merge into another cooperative, hereinafter designated the “surviving cooperative,” by complying with the following requirements:   The proposition for the merger and proposed articles of merger to give effect thereto shall be first approved by the board of each merging cooperative, or by the board or boards of one (1) or more other cooperatives when proposed by at least three hundred (300) members of a cooperative in the manner provided by § 65-25-113(a)(2)(D) and by the board of the surviving cooperative. The proposed articles of merger shall recite in the caption that they are executed pursuant to this chapter and shall state:  The name of each merging cooperative, the address of its principal office, and the date of the filing of its articles of incorporation in the office of the secretary of state;   The name of the surviving cooperative and the address of its principal office;   A statement that the merging cooperatives elect to be merged into the surviving cooperative;   The terms and conditions of the merger and the mode of carrying the same into effect, including the manner and basis of converting the memberships in the merging cooperative or cooperatives into memberships in the surviving cooperative; and   Any provisions not inconsistent with this chapter deemed necessary or advisable for the conduct of the business and affairs of the surviving cooperative;     The proposition for the merger and the proposed articles of merger shall then be submitted to a vote of the members of each merging cooperative and of the surviving cooperative at any annual or special meeting of the members thereof, the notice of which shall set forth full particulars concerning the proposed merger. The proposed merger and the proposed articles of merger shall be approved upon receiving the affirmative votes of as many as, but not fewer than, two thirds (2/3) of those members of each cooperative voting thereon at each such meeting; and   Upon such approvals, articles of merger in the form approved shall be executed and acknowledged on behalf of each such cooperative by its president or vice president and attested by its secretary, who shall affix the cooperative's seal thereto if it has and employs such a seal. The president or vice president shall also make and annex thereto affidavits stating that the provisions of this section were duly complied with by such person's respective cooperative. Such articles of merger and affidavits shall be submitted to the secretary of state for filing as provided in this chapter.