HOUSE    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .   .    .   No. 4897

      Text of an amendment, offered by Mr. Honan of Boston, to the engrossed Bill relative to the articles and by-laws of cooperative housing corporations (see House, No. 1224).  June, 2008.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand and Eight.

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Striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the following:

"SECTION 1. Section 4 of chapter 157B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition “by-laws” the following definition:-

“community of interest”, any cooperative corporation or corporation organized as a cooperative under the general laws or otherwise, other than a limited equity housing cooperative or corporation, for the purpose of providing or furnishing residential housing for a communal purpose; provided, that a statement of communal purpose, in sufficient detail so that a reasonable person may understand such purpose, shall be included in the original articles of organization of such corporation or added to the articles of such corporation as set forth in clause (g) of section 10 by amendment approved by 60 per cent of the stockholders.

SECTION 2.  Section 10 of said chapter 157B, as so appearing is hereby amended by striking out clause (g) and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-

(g) standards for eligibility to become a stockholder, provided that such standards reasonably relate to: (i) the capacity to satisfy the stockholder’s financial and maintenance obligations with respect to the property; (ii) the creation of the housing cooperative as a community of interest, provided however, a detailed statement of the communal purpose and eligibility standards of the community of interest shall be contained within the articles of organization of the corporation; or (iii) standards as a provider of affordable housing; provided, further, that standards for such eligibility set forth in subsections (i), (ii) and (iii) above shall not be discriminatory under section 4 of chapter 151B.  A party seeking to become a stockholder of a housing cooperative created as a community of interest under subsection (ii) above shall be eligible to become a stockholder unless (a) the articles of organization for the corporation contains a detailed statement of communal purpose and eligibility standards as described in subsection (ii) above, and (b) such party fails to meet the eligibility standards for the community of interest as set forth in the articles of organization for the corporation.  A party seeking to become a stockholder of a housing cooperative created using the eligibility criteria set forth in either subsection (i) or (iii) above, may only be denied eligibility if it fails to meet the established financial criteria or affordable housing requirements, as applicable.  Denial of a party seeking to become a stockholder shall be in writing, include the reason for denial and be delivered to the party.  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, this clause shall govern cooperative housing arrangements formed under this chapter or otherwise.

SECTION 3.  Within 90 days of the enactment of this act, the secretary of the commonwealth shall send written notice to each corporation organized under chapters 156D or 157B of the General Laws of the requirement for it to file, as applicable, articles of organization that contain the information required in subsection (ii) of clause (g) of section 10 of chapter 157B as amended by section 2 of this act. 

SECTION 4.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall take effect August 1, 2009.”