(1) A public benefit corporation shall prepare an annual report that includes:
(a) A narrative description of:
The ways in which the public benefit corporation promoted the public benefit identified in the articles of incorporation and the best interests of those materially affected by the public benefit corporation's conduct;
Any circumstances that have hindered the public benefit corporation's promotion ofthe identified public benefit and the best interests of those materially affected by the public benefit corporation's conduct; and
The process and rationale for selecting or changing the third-party standard used tocomplete the assessment pursuant to subsection (1)(b) of this section; and
(b) An assessment of the overall social and environmental performance of the public benefit corporation against a third-party standard:
Applied consistently with any application of that standard in prior benefit reports; or
Accompanied by an explanation of the reasons for any inconsistent application. Theassessment does not need to be performed, audited, or certified by a third party.
(2) For purposes of subsection (1) of this section, "third-party standard" means a standard for defining, reporting, and assessing the overall corporate social and environmental performance, which standard is developed by an organization that is not controlled by the public benefit corporation or any of its affiliates and that makes publicly available the following information:
The criteria considered when measuring the social and environmental performance ofa business, the relative weightings of those criteria, if any, and the process for development and revision of the standard; and
Any material owners of the organization that developed the third-party standard, themembers of its governing body and how they are selected, and the sources of financial support for the organization, in sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that could reasonably be considered to compromise its independence.
A public benefit corporation that prepares a report pursuant to this section shall sendit to each shareholder.
A public benefit corporation shall post all of its reports prepared pursuant to thissection on the public portion of its website, if any, but the public benefit corporation may omit from the posted reports any financial or proprietary information included in the reports.
If a public benefit corporation does not have a website, the public benefit corporationshall provide a copy of its most recent report, without charge, to a person that requests a copy, but the public benefit corporation may omit any financial or proprietary information from the copy of the benefit report so provided.
Source: L. 2013: Entire part added, (HB 13-1138), ch. 230, p. 1102, § 1, effective April 1, 2014. L. 2014: IP(1) amended, (SB 14-156), ch. 192, p. 713, § 1, effective May 15. L. 2017:
(1)(a) amended, (HB 17-1200), ch. 386, p. 2001, § 4, effective August 9.