(a) The Secretary of State shall not file articles setting forth a name in which “bank,” “trust,” “trustee,” or related words appear, unless the certificate of approval of the Commissioner of Business Oversight is attached to the articles. This subdivision does not apply to the articles of any social purpose corporation subject to the Banking Law on which is endorsed the approval of the Commissioner of Business Oversight.
(b) (1) The name of a social purpose corporation shall not be a name that the Secretary of State determines is likely to mislead the public and shall be distinguishable in the records of the Secretary of State from all of the following:
(A) The name of any corporation.
(B) The name of any foreign corporation authorized to transact intrastate business in this state.
(C) Each name that is under reservation pursuant to this title.
(D) The name of a foreign corporation that has registered its name pursuant to Section 2101.
(E) A name that a foreign corporation has assumed under subdivision (b) of Section 2106.
(F) A name that will become the record name of a domestic or foreign corporation upon a corporate instrument when there is a delayed effective or file date.
(2) The use by a social purpose corporation of a name in violation of this section may be enjoined notwithstanding the filing of its articles by the Secretary of State.
(3) A corporation formed pursuant to this division before January 1, 2015, may elect to change its status from a flexible purpose corporation to a social purpose corporation by amending its articles of incorporation to change its name to replace “flexible purpose corporation” with “social purpose corporation” and to replace the term “flexible purpose corporation” with “social purpose corporation” as applicable in any statements contained in the articles. For any flexible purpose corporation formed prior to January 1, 2015, that has not amended its articles of incorporation to change its status to a social purpose corporation, any reference in this division to social purpose corporation shall be deemed a reference to “flexible purpose corporation.”
(c) Any applicant may, upon payment of the fee prescribed in Article 3 (commencing with Section 12180) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, obtain from the Secretary of State a certificate of reservation of any name not prohibited by subdivision (b), and upon the issuance of the certificate the name stated in the certificate shall be reserved for a period of 60 days. The Secretary of State shall not, however, issue certificates reserving the same name for two or more consecutive 60-day periods to the same applicant or for the use or benefit of the same person. No consecutive reservations shall be made by or for the use or benefit of the same person of names so similar as to fall within the prohibitions of subdivision (b).
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 361, Sec. 3. (SB 522) Effective January 1, 2021.)