§ 8-1-17-5 — Articles of incorporation; certificate of territorial authority; commission review; notice to facilities based local exchange carriers; issuance of certificate; request for additional information; filing with secretary of state; status as body corporate

Indiana § 8-1-17-5

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 1: UTILITIES GENERALLY
• Ch. 17: Telephones─Rural Telephone Cooperative Act

Text

(a) The individuals executing the articles of
incorporation of a local cooperative corporation shall be residents of
the area in which the operations of the cooperative corporation are to
be conducted and shall be persons desirous of using communications
service to be furnished by the cooperative corporation.
(b) The individuals executing the articles of incorporation of a
general cooperative corporation shall be members or prospective
members of one (1) or more local cooperative corporations which are
prospective members of such general cooperative corporation.
(c) The articles shall be executed in at least six (6) originals and
shall be acknowledged by the subscribers before an officer authorized
by law to take acknowledgments of deeds. When so acknowledged,
three (3) originals of said articles shall be submitted to the commission.
At the time the articles of incorporation are filed, an application for a
certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5 shall be filed with
the commission if the applicant will operate as a local cooperative
corporation. The application shall be executed by one (1) or more of
the individuals executing the articles and shall comply with the
requirements of IC 8-1-32.5-6, as applicable.
(d) Upon the receipt of any articles of incorporation and application
for a certificate of territorial authority, the commission shall conduct
the review required under IC 8-1-32.5-8. If the applicant is a local
cooperative corporation and is applying for a certificate of territorial
authority to provide local exchange service, the commission shall give
written notice, by United States registered mail, of the filing of the
application to each facilities based local exchange carrier operating in
territory contiguous to the area in which the cooperative corporation
proposes to render communications service. The commission shall use
the record maintained by the commission under IC 8-1-32.5-13 to
determine which facilities based local exchange carriers are entitled to
notice under this subsection.
(e) If the commission, after conducting the review required by IC 8-1-32.5-8 and any hearing allowed under IC 8-1-32.5-9, determines
that the applicant meets the requirements for the issuance of a
certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5-8, the commission
shall:
(1) issue a certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5;
and
(2) enter an order approving the organization of the cooperative
corporation and the proposed articles of incorporation.
(f) If the commission, after conducting the review required by IC 8-1-32.5-8 and any hearing allowed under IC 8-1-32.5-9, determines
that the applicant does not meet the requirements for the issuance of a
certificate of territorial authority under IC 8-1-32.5-8, the commission
shall:
(1) request the applicant to provide additional information; or
(2) notify the applicant of the applicant's right to:
(A) appeal the commission's determination under IC 8-1-3; or
(B) file another application at a later date, without prejudice;
under IC 8-1-32.5-8.
(g) If the commission approves the articles of incorporation under
subsection (e), the cooperative corporation shall submit the following
documents, along with two (2) copies of each, to the secretary of state
for filing:
(1) One (1) of the original articles of incorporation executed by
the corporation under subsection (c).
(2) A certified copy of the order of the commission under
subsection (e)(2).
(3) A certified copy of the certificate of territorial authority issued
by the commission under subsection (e)(1).
If the secretary of state determines that the documents described in
subdivisions (1) through (3) comply with law, the secretary of state
shall endorse the documents and file one (1) set of the documents in the
secretary of state's office and deliver the other two (2) sets, endorsed
with the secretary of state's approval, to the incorporators. The
incorporators shall record one (1) of the approved original or certified
copies of the documents in the office of the recorder of the county in
which the cooperative corporation has, or will have, its principal office.
(h) As soon as the provisions of this section have been complied
with, the proposed cooperative corporation, described in the articles of
incorporation recorded under subsection (g), under its designated
name, is a body corporate.
Formerly: Acts 1951, c.193, s.5. As amended by P.L.97-1993,
SEC.2; P.L.27-2006, SEC.42; P.L.81-2020, SEC.8.