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The Florida Senate

2024 Florida Statutes

Title XXXVI BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS
Chapter 617 CORPORATIONS NOT FOR PROFIT Entire Chapter
SECTION 01401
Definitions.
F.S. 617.01401
617.01401 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term:
(1) “Articles of incorporation” includes original, amended, and restated articles of incorporation, articles of consolidation, and articles of merger, and all amendments thereto, including documents designated by the laws of this state as charters, and, in the case of a foreign corporation, documents equivalent to articles of incorporation in the jurisdiction of incorporation.
(2) “Board of directors” means the group of persons vested with the management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name by which such group is designated, including, but not limited to, managers or trustees.
(3) “Bylaws” means the code or codes of rules adopted for the regulation or management of the affairs of the corporation irrespective of the name or names by which such rules are designated.
(4) “Corporation” or “domestic corporation” means a corporation not for profit, subject to the provisions of this chapter, except a foreign corporation.
(5) “Corporation not for profit” means a corporation no part of the income or profit of which is distributable to its members, directors, or officers, except as otherwise provided under this chapter.
(6) “Department” means the Department of State.
(7) “Distribution” means the payment of a dividend or any part of the income or profit of a corporation to its members, directors, or officers.
(a) A donation or transfer of corporate assets or income to or from another not-for-profit corporation qualified as tax-exempt under s. 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code or a governmental organization exempt from federal and state income taxes, if such corporation or governmental organization is a member of the corporation making such donation or transfer, is not a distribution for purposes of this chapter.
(b) A dividend or distribution by a not-for-profit insurance company subsidiary to its mutual insurance holding company organized under part III of chapter 628, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediate holding companies authorized under that part, is not a distribution for the purposes of this chapter.
(8) “Electronic transmission” means any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission or transfer of paper, which creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient and which may be directly reproduced in a comprehensible and legible paper form by such recipient through an automated process. Examples of electronic transmission include, but are not limited to, telegrams, facsimile transmissions of images, and text that is sent via electronic mail between computers.
(9) “Foreign corporation” means a corporation not for profit organized under laws other than the laws of this state.
(10) “Insolvent” means the inability of a corporation to pay its debts as they become due in the usual course of its affairs.
(11) “Mail” means the United States mail, facsimile transmissions, and private mail carriers handling nationwide mail services.
(12) “Member” means one having membership rights in a corporation in accordance with the provisions of its articles of incorporation or bylaws or the provisions of this chapter.
(13) “Mutual benefit corporation” means a domestic corporation that is not organized primarily or exclusively for religious purposes; is not recognized as exempt under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; and is not organized for a public or charitable purpose that is required upon its dissolution to distribute its assets to the United States, a state, a local subdivision thereof, or a person that is recognized as exempt under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The term does not include an association organized under chapter 718, chapter 719, chapter 720, or chapter 721, or any corporation where membership in the corporation is required pursuant to a document recorded in county property records.
(14) “Person” includes individual and entity.
(15) “Successor entity” means any trust, receivership, or other legal entity that is governed by the laws of this state to which the remaining assets and liabilities of a dissolved corporation are transferred and that exists solely for the purposes of prosecuting and defending suits by or against the dissolved corporation and enabling the dissolved corporation to settle and close the business of the dissolved corporation, to dispose of and convey the property of the dissolved corporation, to discharge the liabilities of the dissolved corporation, and to distribute to the dissolved corporation’s members any remaining assets, but not for the purpose of continuing the business for which the dissolved corporation was organized.
(16) “Voting power” means the total number of votes entitled to be cast for the election of directors at the time the determination of voting power is made, excluding a vote that is contingent upon the happening of a condition or event that has not yet occurred. If the members of a class are entitled to vote as a class to elect directors, the determination of the voting power of the class is based on the percentage of the number of directors the class is entitled to elect relative to the total number of authorized directors. If the corporation’s directors are not elected by the members, voting power shall, unless otherwise provided in the articles of incorporation or bylaws, be on a one-member, one-vote basis.
History.—s. 14, ch. 90-179; s. 1, ch. 2003-14; s. 10, ch. 2009-205; s. 3, ch. 2013-125.