The summer months traditionally see many new business compliance laws taking effect - and July, 2016 is no exception. Below are summaries of the laws that will go into effect this month:
ALABAMA
Effective Date: July 25, 2016
Entities Affected: Small businesses
House Bill 36, effective July 25, 2016, enacts the Alabama Small Business and Agribusiness Jobs Act, which enacts a tax credit for small businesses that create jobs meeting specific criteria during a given tax year. The tax credit will expire on January 1, 2019 unless the legislature extends it. View the entire bill.
IDAHO
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: Benefit Corporations
House Bill 390, effective July 1, 2016, amends the benefit corporation law to remove the requirement of filing a benefit corporation report with the Secretary of State. View the entire bill on the State website.
INDIANA
Effective Date: Various
Entities Affected: All Entities; LLCs, Series LLCs
House Bill 1336, effective March 23, 2016, amends the business entity laws to require applications to reserve or renew a name or to transfer the reservation of a name to be filed with the Secretary of State electronically. The bill also amends the provisions dealing with the filing of certain plans and documents effective July 1, 2016, and adds provisions dealing with series LLCs effective January 1, 2017. View the entire bill.
IOWA
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: Limited Partnerships (LPs)
House Bill 2373, effective July 1, 2016, amends the LP law to clarify that LPs must designate and maintain a registered office and agent, and amends the LLC law regarding certificates of existence and authority and the foreign LLC application for certificate of authority. View the entire bill on the State website.
KANSAS
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: Corporations, Nonstock Corporations
House Bill 2112, effective July 1, 2016, amends the General Corporation Code, including amendments governing bylaws, dissolution, ratification of defective acts, nonstock corporations, directors, indemnification, stock, proxies, annual reports, and mergers and consolidations. View the entire bill.
MISSISSIPPI
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: All Business Entities
Senate Bill 2649, effective July 1, 2016, amends state law to provide a process for appeal of penalties imposed by the Secretary of State for violations of the provisions regulating charitable corporations and certain other statutes. View the entire bill on the State website.
NEBRASKA
Effective Date: July 21, 2016
Entities Affected: Partnerships and LLPs
Legislative Bill 1050, effective July 21, 2016, authorizes conversion of domestic partnerships and domestic limited liability partnerships into domestic limited liability companies or foreign limited liability companies. View the entire bill on the state website.
Effective Date: July 21, 2016
Entities Affected: LLCs
Legislative Bill 758, effective July 21, 2016, prohibits limited liability companies from operating as insurers. View the entire bill on the State website.
RHODE ISLAND
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: LLPs
House Bill 7454, effective July 1, 2016, increases the LLP registration fee. View the bill text (page 202) on the State website.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: Nonprofits
House Bill 1068, effective July 1, 2016, amends the nonprofit law to authorize and provide procedures for the domestication, conversion, and domestication and conversion of nonprofit corporations. View the entire bill on the State website.
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: All Business Entities
House Bill 1187, effective July 1, 2016, allows the Secretary of State to refuse to file documents for any business entity if the document contains any letter combination that carries connotations offensive to good taste and decency, or consists of immoral, deceptive, or scandalous material. View the entire bill on the State website.
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: All Business Entities
House Bill 49, effective July 1, 2016, revises fees to authorize the Secretary of State to impose an additional fee for documents not filed electronically and to provide additional penalties for failure to file an annual report. View the entire bill on the State website.
VERMONT
Effective Date: Various
Entities Affected: Corporations, LLCs, Trade Names
House Bill 868, effective as noted in the Bill, amends (i) the Business Corporation Act by expanding authorized mergers and conversions and authorizing foreign corporations to domesticate to Vermont; (ii) the LLC Act regarding definitions, mergers and conversions; and (iii) the trade name statute. (see Sections E.1., E.2., E.3. & E.4. of the Bill). View the entire bill on the State website.
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: Trade Names; Foreign Registration
Vermont — House Bill 84, effective July 1, 2016, amends (1) the trade name statute regarding administrative termination of registration, reinstatement of registration and penalties for noncompliance with the statute and (2) the entity statutes by standardizing penalties for noncompliance with the foreign qualification requirement. View the entire bill on the State website.
VIRGINIA
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: Nonstock corporations
House Bill 234, effective July 1, 2016, amends the Virginia Nonstock Corporation statute relating to actions taken without a meeting of a board of directors. The changes allow for a nonstock corporation’s articles of incorporation to permit greater flexibility concerning the number of directors who must sign a consent to an action without a corporate meeting, and provides requirements for all directors to be given notice of and an opportunity to object to a proposed action being taken without a meeting. View the entire bill on the State website.
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: LLCs
House Bill 955, effective July 1, 2016, restructures the Virginia Limited Liability Company Act by creating a new article and moving existing provisions relating to formation by conversion there. This Bill also provides for the reorganization of LLCs in bankruptcy, makes changes to provisions relating to LLC mergers, and adds conversion provisions to the Virginia Business Trust Act, among other changes. View the entire bill on the State website.
Effective Date: July 1, 2016
Entities Affected: LLCs
House Bill 918, effective July 1, 2016, gives LLCs the option to maintain and make certain required information available to their members as an electronic record through a network or system, versus having to maintain and make it available in printed form at their principal office. View the entire bill on the State website.
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For informational purposes only; content does not constitute legal advice.