2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 35. Corporations, Partnerships, and Associations › Chapter 1. Montana Benefit Corporation Act › Part 14. Benefit Corporations › 35-1-1410. Report

35-1-1410. Report.
(1) Each year, the board of directors of a benefit corporation shall have prepared and delivered to each shareholder an annual benefit report that must include:
(a) a narrative description of:
(i) the process used and rationale for selecting the third-party standard used to prepare the benefit report;
(ii) the ways in which the benefit corporation pursued general public benefit during the applicable year and the extent to which general public benefit was created;
(iii) the ways in which the benefit corporation pursued any specific public benefit that the articles of incorporation state it is the purpose of the benefit corporation to create and the extent to which the specific public benefit was created; and
(iv) any circumstances that may have hindered the creation by the benefit corporation of general public benefit or any specific public benefit;
(b) an assessment of the overall social and environmental performance of the benefit corporation prepared in accordance with a third-party standard applied consistently with any application of that standard in prior benefit reports or accompanied by an explanation of the reasons for any inconsistent application;
(c) a statement indicating whether the benefit corporation failed to pursue its general public benefit purpose or any specific public benefit purpose in all material respects during the period covered by the report;
(d) the same statement required by 35-1-1411 to be printed on ownership certificates; and
(e) a statement of any connection between the entity that established the third-party standard or the entity's directors, officers, or material owners and the benefit corporation or the benefit corporation's directors, officers, and material owners, including any financial or governance relationship that might materially affect the credibility of the objective assessment reached by using the third-party standard.
(2) If the statement required under subsection (1)(c) indicates that the benefit corporation failed to pursue its general public benefit purpose or any specific public benefit purpose, the annual benefit report must include a description of the ways in which the benefit corporation failed to pursue the general public benefit purpose or specific public benefit purpose.
(3) The report must be provided to each shareholder within 120 days following the end of each fiscal year of the benefit corporation or at the same time that the benefit corporation delivers any other annual report to its shareholders. The report may be provided electronically or by other means.
(4) (a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (4)(c), a benefit corporation shall post all of its benefit reports on the public portion of its internet website, if any.
(b) If a benefit corporation does not have an internet website, the benefit corporation shall provide, without charge, a copy of its most recent benefit report to any person who requests a copy.
(c) The benefit corporation may omit the compensation paid to directors or any proprietary or financial information from the copy of a benefit report posted pursuant to subsection (4)(a) or provided pursuant to subsection (4)(b).
History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 306, L. 2015.