reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
AR Code § 23-17-209 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-209. Articles of incorporation — Contents

 (a) The articles of incorporation shall state:  (1) The name of the cooperative. The name shall include the words “Telephone Cooperative” or “Telecommunications Cooperative”, and the abbreviation “Inc.”;  (2) The purpose for which the cooperative is formed;  (3) The names and addresses of the incorporators who shall serve as directors and manage the affairs of the cooperative until its first annual meeting of members or until their successors are elected and qualified;  (4) The number of directors, not fewer than five (5), to be elected at the annual meeting of members;  (5) The address of its principal office and the name and address of its agent upon whom process may be served;  (6) The terms and conditions upon which persons shall be admitted to membership and retain membership in the cooperative;  (7) If a cooperative desires to issue nonvoting shares of stock:  (A) The total number of the shares of stock which may be issued and the par value of each share;  (B) The fixed or maximum rates of dividends on the par value of the shares of stock and whether dividends shall be cumulative;  (C) Whether the shares of stock may be issued to members only or to members and nonmembers; and  (D) The maximum number of the shares of stock which may be owned by any person and the terms and conditions upon which the shares of stock may be transferred, redeemed, or retired. No shares of stock shall be issued except for cash or for property at its fair value in an amount equal to the par value of the shares of stock; and    (8) Any provision not inconsistent with law, which the incorporators may choose to insert, for the regulation of the business and the conduct of the affairs of the cooperative.    (b) It shall not be necessary to set forth in the articles of incorporation any of the corporate powers enumerated in this subchapter.
AR Code § 23-17-210 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-210. Articles of incorporation — Execution, filing, and recording

 (a) Duplicate originals of the articles of incorporation shall be signed by the incorporators and acknowledged before an officer authorized by the laws of this state to take acknowledgments to deeds and conveyances. These duplicate originals shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.  (b) If the Secretary of State finds that the articles of incorporation conform to law and when the fees prescribed by this subchapter have been paid, he or she shall:  (1) Endorse on the originals the word “filed” and the month, day, and year of the filing;  (2) File one (1) of the originals in his or her office and deliver the other to the incorporators; and  (3) Issue a certificate of incorporation to the incorporators.    (c) The incorporators shall file for record a copy of the original articles of incorporation bearing the filing of the Secretary of State.
AR Code § 23-17-211 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-211. Articles of incorporation — Amendment

 (a) Any cooperative organized under this subchapter, from time to time and as desired, may amend its articles of incorporation in any respect. However, only such provisions shall be inserted by amendment that could be lawfully and properly inserted in original articles of incorporation at the time of making the amendment.  (b) Every amendment shall be made and effected in the manner following:  (1) The board of directors of the cooperative shall adopt a resolution setting forth the amendment proposed, declaring its advisability, and calling a meeting of the members entitled to vote for the consideration thereof at the meeting, of which notice shall be given in the manner provided in § 23-17-217;  (2) If it appears that a majority of the members voting have voted at an annual meeting in favor of the amendment, the cooperative shall make under its corporate seal and the hand of its president or vice president and secretary or assistant secretary a verified certificate setting forth the amendment in full;  (3) Duplicate originals of the certificate, so verified, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and one (1) of the duplicate originals bearing the filing by the Secretary of State shall be recorded in the office of the county clerk in the same manner as required in § 23-17-210 in regard to certified copies of original articles of incorporation; and  (4) Upon the filing of the certificate with the Secretary of State, the charter of the cooperative shall be deemed to be amended accordingly.
AR Code § 23-17-212 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-212. Certificate of incorporation

 (a) Upon the issuance of a certificate of incorporation by the Secretary of State, the corporate existence of the cooperative shall begin.  (b) The certificate of incorporation shall be conclusive evidence, except as against the state, that all conditions required to be performed by the incorporators have been complied with and that the cooperative has been incorporated under this subchapter.
AR Code § 23-17-213 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-213. Organizational meeting

 (a) After the issuance of the certificate of incorporation, an organizational meeting shall be held at the call of a majority of the incorporators for the purpose of adopting bylaws and electing officers and for the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting.  (b) The incorporators calling the meeting shall give at least three (3) days' notice thereof by mail to each incorporator. The notice shall state the time and place of the meeting.
AR Code § 23-17-214 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-214. Bylaws

 (a)  (1) The power to make, alter, amend, or repeal the bylaws of the cooperative shall be vested in the board of directors, subject to amendment by the members at an annual meeting.  (2)  (A) The board shall not change, alter, amend, or repeal a provision of the bylaws adopted by the members except upon a unanimous vote of the directors in favor of the change, alteration, amendment, or repeal.  (B) If the directors change, alter, amend, or repeal a bylaw provision under this section, the bylaw provision shall remain effective unless the change, alteration, amendment, or repeal of the bylaw provision is presented by the members at the next annual or special meeting of the board.  (C) If the members at the next annual or special meeting of the board do not vote to ratify the directors' action in changing, altering, amending, or repealing the bylaw provision in question, the bylaw provision in question shall be deleted from the bylaws, and the bylaw provision in question shall revert, effective the day after the members' meeting, to the wording that was in place immediately before the directors changed, altered, amended, or repealed the bylaw provision.      (b) The bylaws may contain any provisions for the regulation and management of the affairs of the cooperative not inconsistent with law or the articles of incorporation.
AR Code § 23-17-215 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-215. Qualifications of members

 Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, the articles of incorporation of a cooperative, and the bylaws of a cooperative, a cooperative's board shall have the authority to determine the qualifications for membership in the cooperative and to establish and from time to time modify procedures pursuant to which persons may become or remain members, as well as procedures for terminating a person's membership in the cooperative. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, no person may become or remain a member of a cooperative who does not subscribe to telecommunications service supplied by the cooperative.
AR Code § 23-17-216 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-216. Membership fees and capital credits

 (a) When a member of a cooperative has paid the membership fee in full, a certificate of membership shall be issued to the member.  (b) Memberships in the cooperative and the certificates thereof shall be nontransferable and nonassignable.  (c) Membership may be cancelled upon the resignation, expulsion, dissolution, change in ownership, or death of the member or by the death or divorce of either party to a joint membership, if joint memberships are provided for in the bylaws.  (d) The membership fee shall not be refunded.  (e) Cooperatives shall not pay capital credits to a member, former member, patron, or former patron while the cooperative has outstanding and unpaid obligations in excess of ten percent (10%) of its net assets. The board of directors in its discretion may authorize payment of any capital credits allocated to deceased former members or patrons as provided in the bylaws. If the outstanding and unpaid obligations of the cooperative are less than ten percent (10%) of the cooperative's net assets based upon the cooperative's consolidated balance sheet as of the close of the cooperative's most recently audited fiscal year, the board shall have the discretion to pay previously allocated capital credits in any amount or manner the board deems appropriate.
AR Code § 23-17-217 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-217. Meetings of members

 (a) Meetings of members may be held at such place as may be designated by the board. In the absence of any such provision, all meetings shall be held in the principal office of the cooperative in this state.  (b) Annual meetings of the members shall be held at such time as may be designated by the board. Failure to hold the annual meeting at the designated time shall not work forfeiture or dissolution of the cooperative.  (c) Special meetings of the members may be called by the president, or by the board of directors, and shall be called by the president upon petition signed by not less than ten percent (10%) of all the members.  (d) Written or printed notice, containing the place, day, and hour of the meeting of members and, in case of special meeting, the purpose for which the meeting is called, shall be delivered not fewer than five (5) days nor more than sixty (60) days before the date of the meeting, either personally or by mail, to each member of record entitled to vote as a member at the meeting. If mailed, the notice shall be deemed to be delivered when deposited in the United States mails, with postage prepaid, in a sealed envelope addressed to the member at his or her address as it appears on the records of the cooperative.  (e) Each member present in person at any meeting shall be entitled to one (1), and only one (1), vote on each matter submitted to a vote at a meeting of the members, but voting by mail or proxy may be provided for in the bylaws. Notwithstanding, the bylaws may require each member to vote in person on certain matters.  (f)  (1) Unless the bylaws prescribe the presence of a greater percentage of the number of members for a quorum, a quorum for the transaction of business at all meetings of the members of the cooperative shall be ten percent (10%) of all members, and, of a cooperative having more than five hundred (500) members, a quorum shall be not fewer than fifty (50) members. However, in the event a cooperative is unable to attain a quorum at its annual meeting, the board of directors in the next annual meeting or in a notice of special meeting may declare that the number of members present at the meeting shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting business.  (2) If less than a quorum is present at any meeting, a majority of those present in person or by proxy may adjourn the meeting from time to time without further notice.
AR Code § 23-17-218 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-218. Board of directors generally

 (a) The business affairs of a cooperative shall be managed by a board of directors consisting of not fewer than five (5) in number, which shall exercise all the powers of a cooperative except those which are conferred upon the members by this subchapter, by the articles of incorporation, by its certificate of incorporation, or by the bylaws of the cooperative.  (b) Each of the directors shall be a member of the cooperative.  (c)  (1) The bylaws shall prescribe the number of directors, their qualifications other than those prescribed in this subchapter, the manner of holding meetings of the board of directors, and the manner of electing successors to directors who resign, die, are removed, or otherwise are incapable of acting.  (2) The bylaws may also provide for the removal of directors from office and for the election of their successors.    (d) The directors shall be members of the cooperative and shall be entitled to such compensation, benefits, and reimbursement for expenses actually and necessarily incurred.
AR Code § 23-17-219 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-219. Board of directors — Elections — Term of office — Vacancies

 (a) The directors of a cooperative shall hold office until their terms expire or until their successors are elected and qualified.  (b)  (1) At each annual meeting or, in case of failure to hold the annual meeting as specified in the bylaws, at a special meeting called for that purpose, the members shall elect directors to hold office for the term for which they are elected and until their successors have been elected and qualified.  (2) Instead of electing all of the directors annually, the bylaws may provide for staggered terms of no longer than nine (9) years for each director if approved at a meeting of the members.    (c) Any vacancy occurring in the board shall be filled by the remaining directors. Such persons so elected to fill a vacancy shall serve until the board of directors shall call for an election to elect a successor, and until the successor has been elected and qualified.
AR Code § 23-17-220 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-220. Board of directors — Meetings

 (a) Meetings of the board of directors, regular or special, shall be held at such place and upon such notice as the bylaws may prescribe.  (b)  (1) Neither the business to be transacted at, nor the purpose of, any regular meeting of the board of directors need be specified in the notice or waiver of notice of the meeting.  (2) The notice of a special meeting of the board shall state the purpose of and the business to be transacted at the meeting.    (c)  (1) A majority of the board of directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business unless a greater number is required by the articles of incorporation or by the bylaws.  (2) The act of a majority of the directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the act of the board unless the act of a greater number is required by the articles of incorporation or by the bylaws.
AR Code § 23-17-221 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-221. Officers, agents, and employees

 (a)  (1)  (A) The board of directors shall elect a president, a vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer, and one (1) person may be elected to the office of secretary-treasurer.  (B) The board of directors may elect such other officers as it deems necessary.    (2) The powers, duties, and terms of office of the foregoing officers shall be provided for in the bylaws.    (b) The board of directors may appoint such other officers, agents, and employees as it deems necessary and fix their powers, duties, and compensation.  (c) Any officer, agent, or employee elected or appointed by the board of directors subject to any contracts validly entered into by the cooperative may be removed by it whenever, in its judgment, the best interests of the cooperative will be served.
AR Code § 23-17-222 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-222. Executive committee

 (a) By its bylaws, any cooperative may provide for an executive committee to be elected from and by its board of directors.  (b) To such committee may be delegated the management of the current and ordinary business of the cooperative and such other duties as the bylaws may prescribe, but the designation of the committee and the delegation of authority thereto shall not operate to relieve the board of directors or any member thereof of any responsibility imposed upon it or him or her by this subchapter.
AR Code § 23-17-223 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-223. Waiver of notice of meeting

 (a) Any person entitled to notice of a meeting may waive notice in writing either before or after the meeting.  (b) If any person attends a meeting, his or her attendance shall constitute a waiver of notice of the meeting, unless the person participates therein solely to object to the transaction of any business because the meeting has not been lawfully called or convened.
AR Code § 23-17-224 (2020)
2020 Arkansas Code|Title 23 - Public Utilities and Regulated Industries|Subtitle 1 - Public Utilities And Carriers|Chapter 17 - Telephone and Telegraph Companies|Subchapter 2 - Rural Telecommunications Cooperative Act|§ 23-17-224. Consolidation

 (a)  (1) Any two (2) or more cooperatives may enter into an agreement subject to the approval by the required authorities, if any, for the consolidation of the cooperatives.  (2) The agreement shall set forth the terms and conditions of the consolidation, the name and the proposed consolidated cooperative, the number of its directors, which shall be not fewer than five (5), the time of the annual meeting and election, and the names of at least five (5) persons to be directors until the first annual meeting.  (3) Unless otherwise provided in the bylaws of either of the proposed consolidating cooperatives, if the agreement is approved by the votes of a majority of the members of each cooperative present in person or by proxy at any regular meeting, or at any special meeting of its members called for that purpose, the directors named in the agreement shall sign and acknowledge as incorporators articles of consolidation conforming substantially to the original articles of incorporation of the cooperatives organized under this subchapter.    (b) The articles of consolidation shall be executed, acknowledged, filed, and recorded in the same manner as the articles of incorporation of a cooperative organized under this subchapter.  (c) As soon as the Secretary of State shall have accepted the articles of consolidation for filing and recording and issued a certificate of consolidation, the proposed consolidated cooperative described in the articles as its designated name shall be and become a body corporate with all of the powers of a cooperative as originally organized hereunder.  (d) All of the rights, privileges, immunities, and franchises, and all real and personal property, including, without limitation, applications for membership, all debts due on whatever account, and all other choses in action of each of the consolidating cooperatives shall be deemed to be transferred to and vested in the new cooperative without further act or deed.  (e) The new cooperative shall be responsible and liable for all of the liabilities and obligations of each of the consolidating cooperatives. Any claim existing or actions or proceeding pending by or against any of the consolidating cooperatives may be prosecuted as if the consolidation had not taken place, but the new cooperative may be substituted in its place.  (f) Neither the rights of creditors nor any liens upon the property of any of the consolidating cooperatives shall be impaired by the consolidation.