14-542. EXEMPTION. (1) The following shall be eligible for a certificate of exemption from the administrator. Entities holding a certificate of exemption shall not be subject to the provisions of this chapter, except as set forth in this section:

(a) Idaho counties; and

(b) Solely for the purpose of unclaimed capital credits, nonprofit corporations engaged in providing telecommunications or broadband service or delivery of electric power. For the purposes of this section, a capital credit is an amount paid by a member for telecommunication, broadband, or electric service in excess of the costs and expenses incurred by a nonprofit corporation in furnishing the service that is credited to the member’s capital account by the nonprofit corporation and distributed to the member.

(2) A certificate of exemption shall be provided to an eligible entity on the following basis:

(a) The county commissioners or board of directors, as applicable, file an election in writing with the administrator;

(b) The entity establishes a revolving fund to pay claimants, and retains in said fund, an amount equal to twenty-five percent (25%) of the accumulated unclaimed property or twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), whichever is less. Excess money in the revolving fund may be transferred to any fund of the entity; provided however, that a transfer of funds shall not alter or extinguish an owner’s right to claim the property; and

(c) The entity provides the administrator with the information required in the reports of abandoned property to enable the administrator to maintain a complete central registry of all unclaimed property in the state.

(3) In the event of revocation of the election, or the administrator determines that the entity has not complied with the requirements or exemption, the exemption shall terminate, the entity shall transfer all unclaimed property and unclaimed property records to the administrator and the entity shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter.

(4) In the alternative to subsections (1) through (3) of this section, a nonprofit corporation identified in subsection (1)(b) of this section may elect to be exempt from the provisions of this chapter that otherwise require it to report capital credits unclaimed by members. The nonprofit corporation may do so by filing with the administrator a certification of the secretary of the nonprofit corporation stating that the bylaws or policies adopted by the members or the board of the nonprofit corporation specify the procedures the nonprofit corporation uses to determine when capital credits shall be determined to be unclaimed and the procedures that will be used to attempt to locate and return such unclaimed credits to members. At the nonprofit corporation’s election, such procedures may include publication by the administrator pursuant to section 14-518, Idaho Code. If the owner of the unclaimed capital credit has not been located and the funds have not been returned within four (4) years after they have been determined to be unclaimed, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the nonprofit corporation may use the funds for the benefit of the general membership of the nonprofit corporation or for the communities it serves, as determined by its board of directors.

History:

[14-542, added 1987, ch. 115, sec. 1, p. 228; am. 1989, ch. 287, sec. 1, p. 712; am. 1991, ch. 174, sec. 1, p. 425; am. 2017, ch. 133, sec. 1, p. 310; am. 2019, ch. 246, sec. 1, p. 744.]