NY Not for Profit Corp L § 1409 (2021)
2021 New York Laws NPC - Not-For-Profit Corporation Article 14 - Special Not-for-Profit Corporations 1409 - Agricultural and Horticultural Corporations.

§ 1409. Agricultural and horticultural corporations.  (a) Definition.   An   agricultural   or  horticultural  corporation  or  society  is  a corporation formed under or by a general or special  law  for  promoting agriculture, horticulture and the mechanic arts.  (b)  Type of corporation. An agricultural or horticultural corporation is a non-charitable corporation under this chapter, except that any such corporation which has received moneys from the state  or  has  acted  as agent for the state under paragraph (c) of this section, or has acquired or does acquire real property by condemnation is or becomes a charitable corporation under this chapter.  (c) Condemnation.   In  case  any  agricultural  or horticultural corporation or any other agricultural society which  has  received  moneys  from  the  state  for premiums  paid  for  improving the breed of cattle, sheep and horses, or has acted as agent for the state in disbursing moneys for  such  purpose can  not  acquire  real  property needed for its corporate purposes upon satisfactory terms, it may acquire such real property  by  condemnation. Any  real  property acquired by condemnation, or otherwise, shall not be subject to condemnation  by  any  other  private  corporation  except  a railroad corporation.  (d) Report of corporation receiving aid; disposition of property.   Any   county  agricultural  corporation  receiving  after  May  tenth, nineteen hundred and twenty, money from any county  shall,  through  its secretary,  make  annually  to  the  board  of  supervisors  a  detailed statement with vouchers showing the disbursement during the year of  all moneys  so  received.  If  such  a  corporation shall cease to exist, or without satisfactory reason shall fail or neglect  to  hold  its  annual exhibitions or fairs for a period of two years, the board of supervisors on  notice  to  the  corporation  may  petition the supreme court of the judicial district or the  county  court  of  the  county  to  declare  a forfeiture  to  the  county  of  the  real  and personal property of the corporation in whole or in part or to confer on the county a  lien  upon such  property,  whereupon  such court may make a decree determining the legal or equitable rights of the county in such property subject to  the rights of creditors of the corporation.  (e) Restrictions on the formation of corporations.   There  shall  be  but  one county corporation in a county, and but one town corporation in a town, except that  a  second  corporation  may  be formed  if  it is to be the surviving corporation under a plan of merger with the existing  corporation,  in  which  event,  the  certificate  of incorporation  of such second corporation shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of a justice of the supreme  court  of  the judicial  district  in  which  the  office  of such corporation is to be located. Ten days written notice of the application for  such  approval, accompanied by a copy of the proposed certificate, shall be given to the attorney  general.  Whenever  a  new  county shall be or shall have been erected out  of  a  part  of  an  existing  county  in  which  a  county corporation  existed at the time of the erection of such new county, the existing corporation may at  its  option  be  continued  as  the  county corporation   of   both  counties.  The  determination  of  an  existing corporation to be continued as a county corporation  for  both  counties shall  be evidenced by a certificate thereof, signed and acknowledged by a majority of the directors, and filed in the office of the secretary of state and in the office of the clerk of each of such  counties.  A  town corporation  may  be formed for several towns, but the formation of such corporation  shall  not  prevent  the  formation  of  a  separate   town corporation for any such town.  (f) Annual fairs and premiums.   Every   agricultural   or   horticultural  corporation,  the  American institute in the city of New York, and the New York  state  agricultural society,  shall  hold  annual  fairs  and  exhibitions,  and  distribute premiums. Such corporations  and  societies  shall  regulate  and  award premiums  on  such  articles,  productions and improvements as they deem best calculated to promote the agricultural, horticultural, mechanic and domestic arts of the state, having special reference to the net  profits which  accrue or are likely to accrue from the mode of raising crops, or stock, or fabricating the articles exhibited, so that the award be  made to  the  most  economical  or profitable mode of production. A county or town corporation, by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting at a regular meeting or at a  special  meeting,  duly  called  for  that purpose,  may  fix the place where the annual fair and exhibition of the corporation shall be held.  (g) Regulation of shows on exhibition grounds.   Any  agricultural  or  horticultural  corporation,  or  the  executive committee   of  such  board,  may  regulate  or  prevent  all  kinds  of theatrical, or circus, exhibitions and shows, huckstering and traffic in fruits, goods, wares and merchandise, of whatever description, and shall prevent all kinds of mountebank exhibitions or shows  for  gain  on  the fair  days  on  such  fair  grounds,  and  also within a distance of two hundred yards of the fair  grounds  of  the  corporation,  if  it  shall determine   that   they   obstruct   or  interfere  with  the  free  and uninterrupted use of the  highways  around  and  approaching  such  fair grounds.  (h) Capital stock.   An  agricultural  or  horticultural corporation may have capital stock aggregating not less than five thousand dollars, divided into shares  of not  less  than ten dollars each, and may issue such certificates at not less than the par  value  thereof  to  raise  money  for  its  corporate purposes,   if   provision  therefor  is  made  in  its  certificate  of incorporation  or  in  a  certificate  filed  pursuant  to  section  803 (Certificate  of  amendment; contents). An agricultural or horticultural corporation, which has issued or shall hereafter  issue  capital  stock, entitling  its  shareholders  to  dividends  from  the  profits  of  the corporation, shall be subject to the business corporation law and not to the provisions of this chapter in conflict therewith.  (i) Annual report.   On or before December fifteenth in each year, the directors  of  every agricultural  or  horticultural corporation shall make a verified report to the commissioner of agriculture and markets of  the  transactions  of the  corporation  for the preceding twelve months giving full details of the receipts and expenditures thereof, with a list of  premiums  awarded and to whom and for what awarded.  (j) Membership in state society.   The  presidents  of the county agricultural corporations, or delegates to be chosen by such corporations annually, shall be ex officio  members of the New York state agricultural society.  (k)  Exhibitions  and entertainments on fair grounds to be exempt from license.   The provisions of any special or local  law  or  municipal  ordinance, requiring the payment of a license fee for exhibitions or entertainments or  requiring  that  an  approval  be obtained from any local government except an approval required to protect the safety, health and well-being of persons, shall not apply to any exhibition or entertainment  held  on the  grounds  of  a  town  or  county  corporation  whether  or  not the corporation  derives  a  pecuniary  profit  from  such   exhibition   or  entertainment  by  the  lease  of  its  grounds for such purpose and the provisions of any special or local law or municipal ordinance shall  not be  construed  or  applied  to  unreasonably  prohibit  or  restrict any agricultural   or   horticultural  corporation  receiving  reimbursement pursuant to article twenty-four of the agriculture and markets law  from the  construction,  improvement, renovation, relocation or demolition of all or any of such agricultural or  horticultural  corporation  grounds, buildings and facilities.