AN ACT Relating to authorizing and regulating employee cooperative corporations; amending RCW 21.20.005 and 21.20.320; and adding a new chapter to Title 23 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. This chapter may be cited as the employee cooperative corporations act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. For the purposes of this chapter, the terms defined in this section have the meanings given:

(1) "Employee cooperative" means a corporation that has elected to be governed by the provisions of this chapter.

(2) "Member" means a natural person who has been accepted for membership in, and owns a membership share issued by, an employee cooperative.

(3) "Patronage" means the amount of work performed as a member of an employee cooperative, measured in accordance with the articles of incorporation and bylaws.

(4) "Written notice of allocation" means a written instrument which discloses to a member the stated dollar amount of the member's patronage allocation and the terms for payment of that amount by the employee cooperative.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. Any corporation organized under the laws of this state and operating under principles consistent with the provisions of this chapter may elect to be governed as an employee cooperative under the provisions of this chapter, by so stating in its articles of incorporation or articles of amendment filed in accordance with Title 23A RCW.

A corporation so electing shall be governed by all provisions of Title 23A RCW, except chapter 23A.20 RCW, and except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. An employee cooperative may revoke its election under this chapter by a vote of two-thirds of the members and through articles of amendment filed with the secretary of state in accordance with chapter 23A.16 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. An employee cooperative may include the word "cooperative" or "co-op" in its corporate name.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) The articles of incorporation or the bylaws shall establish qualifications and the method of acceptance and termination of members. No person may be accepted as a member unless employed by the employee cooperative on a full-time or part-time basis.

(2) An employee cooperative shall issue a class of voting stock designated as "membership shares." Each member shall own only one membership share, and only members may own these shares.

(3) Membership shares shall be issued for a fee as determined from time to time by the directors. RCW 23A.08.140 and 23A.08.200 do not apply to such membership shares.

Members of an employee cooperative shall have all the rights and responsibilities of stockholders of a corporation organized under Title 23A RCW, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. (1) No capital stock other than membership shares shall be given voting power in an employee cooperative, except as otherwise provided in this chapter or in the articles of incorporation.

(2) The power to amend or repeal bylaws of an employee cooperative shall be in the members only.

(3) Except as otherwise permitted by RCW 23A.16.030, no capital stock other than membership shares shall be permitted to vote on any amendment to the articles of incorporation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. (1) The net earnings or losses of an employee cooperative shall be apportioned and distributed at the times and in the manner as the articles of incorporation or bylaws shall specify. Net earnings declared as patronage allocations with respect to a period of time, and paid or credited to members, shall be apportioned among the members in accordance with the ratio which each member's patronage during the period involved bears to total patronage by all members during that period.

(2) The apportionment, distribution, and payment of net earnings required by subsection (1) of this section may be in cash, credits, written notices of allocation, or capital stock issued by the employee cooperative.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. (1) Any employee cooperative may establish through its articles of incorporation or bylaws a system of internal capital accounts to reflect the book value and to determine the redemption price of membership shares, capital stock, and written notices of allocation.

(2) The articles of incorporation or bylaws of an employee cooperative may permit the periodic redemption of written notices of allocation and capital stock, and must provide for recall and redemption of the membership share upon termination of membership in the cooperative. No redemption shall be made if redemption would result in a violation of RCW 23A.08.020.

(3) The articles of incorporation or bylaws may provide for the employee cooperative to pay or credit interest on the balance in each member's internal capital account.

(4) The articles of incorporation or bylaws may authorize assignment of a portion of retained net earnings and net losses to a collective reserve account. Earnings assigned to the collective reserve account may be used for any and all corporate purposes as determined by the board of directors.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. (1) An internal capital account cooperative is an employee cooperative whose entire net book value is reflected in internal capital accounts, one for each member, and a collective reserve account, and in which no persons other than members own capital stock. In an internal capital account cooperative, each member shall have one and only one vote in any matter requiring voting by stockholders.

(2) An internal capital account cooperative shall credit the paid-in membership fee and additional paid-in capital of a member to the member's internal capital account, and shall also record the apportionment of retained net earnings or net losses to the members in accordance with patronage by appropriately crediting or debiting the internal capital accounts of members. The collective reserve account in an internal capital account cooperative shall reflect any paid-in capital, net losses, and retained net earnings not allocated to individual members.

(3) In an internal capital account cooperative, the balances in all the individual internal capital accounts and collective reserve account, if any, shall be adjusted at the end of each accounting period so that the sum of the balances is equal to the net book value of the employee cooperative.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. (1) When any employee cooperative revokes its election in accordance with section 4 of this act, the articles of amendment shall provide for conversion of membership shares and internal capital accounts or their conversion to securities or other property in a manner consistent with Title 23A RCW.

(2) An employee cooperative that has not revoked its election under this chapter may not consolidate or merge with another corporation other than an employee cooperative. Two or more employee cooperatives may consolidate or merge in accordance with chapter 23A.20 RCW.

Sec. 12. Section 60, chapter 282, Laws of 1959 as last amended by section 1, chapter 68, Laws of 1979 ex. sess. and RCW 21.20.005 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions set forth in this section shall apply throughout this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Director" means the director of licensing of this state.

(2) "Salesperson" means any individual other than a broker-dealer who represents a broker-dealer or issuer in effecting or attempting to effect sales of securities, but "salesperson" does not include an individual who represents an issuer in (a) effecting a transaction in a security exempted by RCW 21.20.310(1), (2), (3), (4), (9), (10), (11), (12), or (13), as now or hereafter amended, (b) effecting transactions exempted by RCW 21.20.320, or (c) effecting transactions with existing employees, partners, or directors of the issuer if no commission or other remuneration is paid or given directly or indirectly for soliciting any person in this state.

(3) "Broker-dealer" means any person engaged in the business of effecting transactions in securities for the account of others or for that person's own account. "Broker-dealer" does not include (a) a salesperson, issuer, bank, savings institution, or trust company, (b) a person who has no place of business in this state if the person effects transactions in this state exclusively with or through the issuers of the securities involved in the transactions, other broker-dealers, or banks, savings institutions, trust companies, insurance companies, investment companies as defined in the investment company act of 1940, pension or profit-sharing trusts, or other financial institutions or institutional buyers, whether acting for themselves or as trustees, or (c) a person who has no place of business in this state if during any period of twelve consecutive months that person does not direct more than fifteen offers to sell or to buy into this state in any manner to persons other than those specified in subsection (b) above.

(4) "Guaranteed" means guaranteed as to payment of principal, interest, or dividends.

(5) "Full business day" means all calendar days, excluding therefrom Saturdays, Sundays, and all legal holidays, as defined by statute.

(6) "Investment adviser" means any person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities, or who, for compensation and as a part of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities. "Investment adviser" does not include (a) a bank, savings institution, or trust company, (b) a lawyer, accountant, engineer, or teacher whose performance of these services is solely incidental to the practice of his or her profession, (c) a broker-dealer, (d) a publisher of any bona fide newspaper, news magazine, or business or financial publication of general, regular, and paid circulation, (e) a person whose advice, analyses, or reports relate only to securities exempted by RCW 21.20.310(1), (f) a person who has no place of business in this state if (i) that person's only clients in this state are other investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, savings institutions, trust companies, insurance companies, investment companies as defined in the investment company act of 1940, pension or profit-sharing trust, or other financial institutions or institutional buyers, whether acting for themselves or as trustees, or (ii) during any period of twelve consecutive months that person does not direct business communications into this state in any manner to more than five clients other than those specified in clause (i) above, or (g) such other persons not within the intent of this paragraph as the director may by rule or order designate.

(7) "Issuer" means any person who issues or proposes to issue any security, except that with respect to certificates of deposit, voting trust certificates, or collateral-trust certificates, or with respect to certificates of interest or shares in an unincorporated investment trust not having a board of directors (or persons performing similar functions) or of the fixed, restricted management, or unit type; the term "issuer" means the person or persons performing the acts and assuming the duties of depositor or manager pursuant to the provisions of the trust or other agreement or instrument under which the security is issued.

(8) "Nonissuer" means not directly or indirectly for the benefit of the issuer.

(9) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a trust where the interest of the beneficiaries are evidenced by a security, an unincorporated organization, a government, or a political subdivision of a government.

(10) "Sale" or "sell" includes every contract of sale of, contract to sell, or disposition of, a security or interest in a security for value. "Offer" or "offer to sell" includes every attempt or offer to dispose of, or solicitation of an offer to buy, a security or interest in a security for value.

Any security given or delivered with, or as a bonus on account of, any purchase of securities or any other thing is considered to constitute part of the subject of the purchase and to have been offered and sold for value. A purported gift of assessable stock is considered to involve an offer and sale. Every sale or offer of a warrant or right to purchase or subscribe to another security of the same or another issuer, as well as every sale or offer of a security which gives the holder a present or future right or privilege to convert into another security of the same or another issuer, is considered to include an offer of the other security.

(11) "Securities Act of 1933", "Securities Exchange Act of 1934", "Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935", and "Investment Company Act of 1940" means the federal statutes of those names as amended before or after June 10, 1959.

(12) "Security" means any note; stock; treasury stock; bond; debenture; evidence of indebtedness; certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement; collateral-trust certificate; preorganization certificate or subscription; transferable share; investment contract; investment of money or other consideration in the risk capital of a venture with the expectation of some valuable benefit to the investor where the investor does not receive the right to exercise practical and actual control over the managerial decisions of the venture; voting-trust certificate; certificate of deposit for a security; certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease; charitable gift annuity; or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a "security", or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing; or any sale of or indenture, bond or contract for the conveyance of land or any interest therein where such land is situated outside of the state of Washington and such sale or its offering is not conducted by a real estate broker licensed by the state of Washington. "Security" does not include any cooperative membership share or patronage allocation by a cooperative to its members. "Security" does not include any insurance or endowment policy or annuity contract under which an insurance company promises to pay money either in a lump sum or periodically for life or some other specified period.

(13) "State" means any state, territory, or possession of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

(14) "Investment adviser salesperson" means a person retained or employed by an investment adviser to solicit clients or offer the services of the investment adviser or manage the accounts of said clients.

(15) "Relatives", as used in RCW 21.20.310(11) as now or hereafter amended, shall include:

(a) A member's spouse;

(b) Parents of the member or the member's spouse;

(d) Natural or adopted children of the member or the member's spouse;

(e) Aunts and uncles of the member or the member's spouse; and

(f) First cousins of the member or the member's spouse.

(16) "Cooperative membership share" means any receipt, certificate, or stock for contributions to capital issued by a mutual or cooperative corporation to its members as long as:

(a) Such membership interests are nontransferable except in the case of death, operation of law, or redemption by the cooperative;

(b) No profits, other than a reasonable rate of interest, may be paid to such membership interests; and

(17) "Patronage allocation" means a written instrument which discloses to a member the stated dollar amount to be paid by the cooperative to the member based on the member's patronage with the cooperative, and provides the terms for payment of that amount.

Sec. 13. Section 32, chapter 282, Laws of 1959 as last amended by section 1, chapter 90, Laws of 1986 and RCW 21.20.320 are each amended to read as follows:

The following transactions are exempt from RCW 21.20.040 through 21.20.300 except as expressly provided:

(1) Any isolated transaction, or sales not involving a public offering, whether effected through a broker-dealer or not; or any transaction effected in accordance with any rule by the director establishing a nonpublic offering exemption pursuant to this subsection where registration is not necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors.

(2) Any nonissuer distribution of an outstanding security by a registered broker-dealer if (a) a recognized securities manual contains the names of the issuer's officers and directors, a balance sheet of the issuer as of a date within eighteen months, and a profit and loss statement for either the fiscal year preceding that date or the most recent year of operations, or (b) the security has a fixed maturity or a fixed interest or dividend provision and there has been no default during the current fiscal year or within the three preceding fiscal years, or during the existence of the issuer and any predecessors if less than three years, in the payment of principal, interest, or dividends on the security.

(3) Any nonissuer transaction effected by or through a registered broker-dealer pursuant to an unsolicited order or offer to buy; but the director may by rule require that the customer acknowledge upon a specified form that the sale was unsolicited, and that a signed copy of each such form be preserved by the broker-dealer for a specified period.

(4) Any transaction between the issuer or other person on whose behalf the offering is made and an underwriter, or among underwriters.

(5) Any transaction in a bond or other evidence of indebtedness secured by a real or chattel mortgage or deed of trust, or by an agreement for the sale of real estate or chattels, if the entire mortgage, deed of trust, or agreement, together with all the bonds or other evidences of indebtedness secured thereby, is offered and sold as a unit.

(6) Any transaction by an executor, administrator, sheriff, marshal, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, guardian, or conservator.

(7) Any transaction executed by a bona fide pledgee without any purpose of evading this chapter.

(8) Any offer or sale to a bank, savings institution, trust company, insurance company, investment company as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, pension or profit-sharing trust, or other financial institution or institutional buyer, or to a broker-dealer, whether the purchaser is acting for itself or in some fiduciary capacity.

(9) Any transaction pursuant to an offering not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars effected in accordance with any rule by the director if the director finds that registration is not necessary in the public interest and for the protection of investors.

(10) Any offer or sale of a preorganization certificate or subscription if (a) no commission or other remuneration is paid or given directly or indirectly for soliciting any prospective subscriber, (b) the number of subscribers does not exceed ten, and (c) no payment is made by any subscriber.

(11) Any transaction pursuant to an offer to existing security holders of the issuer, including persons who at the time of the transaction are holders of convertible securities, nontransferable warrants, or transferable warrants exercisable within not more than ninety days of their issuance, if (a) no commission or other remuneration (other than a standby commission) is paid or given directly or indirectly for soliciting any security holder in this state, or (b) the issuer first files a notice specifying the terms of the offer and the director does not by order disallow the exemption within the next five full business days.

(12) Any offer (but not a sale) of a security for which registration statements have been filed under both this chapter and the Securities Act of 1933 if no stop order or refusal order is in effect and no public proceeding or examination looking toward such an order is pending under either act.

(13) The issuance of any stock dividend, whether the corporation distributing the dividend is the issuer of the stock or not, if nothing of value is given by stockholders for the distribution other than the surrender of a right to a cash dividend where the stockholder can elect to take a dividend in cash or stock.

(14) Any transaction incident to a right of conversion or a statutory or judicially approved reclassification, recapitalization, reorganization, quasi reorganization, stock split, reverse stock split, merger, consolidation, or sale of assets.

(15) The offer or sale by a registered broker-dealer, or a person exempted from the registration requirements pursuant to RCW 21.20.040, acting either as principal or agent, of securities previously sold and distributed to the public: PROVIDED, That:

(a) Such securities are sold at prices reasonably related to the current market price thereof at the time of sale, and, if such broker-dealer is acting as agent, the commission collected by such broker-dealer on account of the sale thereof is not in excess of usual and customary commissions collected with respect to securities and transactions having comparable characteristics;

(b) Such securities do not constitute the whole or a part of an unsold allotment to or subscription or participation by such broker-dealer as an underwriter of such securities or as a participant in the distribution of such securities by the issuer, by an underwriter or by a person or group of persons in substantial control of the issuer or of the outstanding securities of the class being distributed; and

(c) The security has been lawfully sold and distributed in this state or any other state of the United States under this or any act regulating the sale of such securities.

(16) ((Any transactions by a mutual or cooperative association issuing to its patrons any receipt, written notice, certificate of indebtedness, or stock for a patronage dividend, or for contributions to capital by such patrons in the association if any such receipt, written notice, or certificate made pursuant to this paragraph is nontransferable except in the case of death or by operation of law and so states conspicuously on its face.

~~(17)~~)) Any transaction effected in accordance with any rule adopted by the director establishing a limited offering exemption which furthers objectives of compatibility with federal exemptions and uniformity among the states, provided that in adopting any such rule the director may require that no commission or other remuneration be paid or given to any person, directly or indirectly, for effecting sales unless the person is registered under this chapter as a broker-dealer or salesperson.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. Sections 1 through 11 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 23 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.