21-256. Action without meeting.

(MBCA 7.04) (a) Action required or permitted by the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act to be taken at a shareholders' meeting may be taken without a meeting if the action is taken by all the shareholders entitled to vote on the action. The action must be evidenced by one or more written consents bearing the date of signature and describing the action taken, signed by all the shareholders entitled to vote on the action and delivered to the corporation for inclusion in the minutes or filing with the corporation records.

(b) The articles of incorporation may provide that any action required or permitted by the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act to be taken at a shareholders' meeting may be taken without a meeting, and without prior notice, if consents in writing setting forth the action so taken are signed by the holders of outstanding shares having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be required to authorize or take the action at a meeting at which all shares entitled to vote on the action were present and voted; provided that the use of written consent to elect directors must be unanimous. The written consent shall bear the date of signature of the shareholder who signs the consent and be delivered to the corporation for inclusion in the minutes or filing with the corporation records.

(c) If not otherwise fixed under section 21-259 and if prior board action is not required respecting the action to be taken without a meeting, the record date for determining the shareholders entitled to take action without a meeting shall be the first date on which a signed written consent is delivered to the corporation. If not otherwise fixed under section 21-259 and if prior board action is required respecting the action to be taken without a meeting, the record date shall be the close of business on the day the resolution of the board taking such prior action is adopted. No written consent shall be effective to take the corporate action referred to therein unless, within sixty days of the earliest date on which a consent delivered to the corporation as required by this section was signed, written consents signed by sufficient shareholders to take the action have been delivered to the corporation. A written consent may be revoked by a writing to that effect delivered to the corporation before unrevoked written consents sufficient in number to take the corporate action are delivered to the corporation.

(d) A consent signed pursuant to the provisions of this section has the effect of a vote taken at a meeting and may be described as such in any document. Unless the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or a resolution of the board of directors provides for a reasonable delay to permit tabulation of written consents, the action taken by written consent shall be effective when written consents signed by sufficient shareholders to take the action are delivered to the corporation.

(e) If the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act requires that notice of a proposed action be given to nonvoting shareholders and the action is to be taken by written consent of the voting shareholders, the corporation must give its nonvoting shareholders written notice of the action not more than ten days after (1) written consents sufficient to take the action have been delivered to the corporation or (2) such later date that tabulation of consents is completed pursuant to an authorization under subsection (d) of this section. The notice must reasonably describe the action taken and contain or be accompanied by the same material that, under any provision of the act, would have been required to be sent to nonvoting shareholders in a notice of a meeting at which the proposed action would have been submitted to the shareholders for action.

(f) If action is taken by less than unanimous written consent of the voting shareholders, the corporation must give its nonconsenting voting shareholders written notice of the action not more than ten days after (1) written consents sufficient to take the action have been delivered to the corporation or (2) such later date that tabulation of consents is completed pursuant to an authorization under subsection (d) of this section. The notice must reasonably describe the action taken and contain or be accompanied by the same material that, under any provision of the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act, would have been required to be sent to voting shareholders in a notice of a meeting at which the action would have been submitted to the shareholders for action.

(g) The notice requirements in subsections (e) and (f) of this section shall not delay the effectiveness of actions taken by written consent, and a failure to comply with such notice requirements shall not invalidate actions taken by written consent, except that this subsection shall not be deemed to limit judicial power to fashion any appropriate remedy in favor of a shareholder adversely affected by a failure to give such notice within the required time period.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 56; Laws 2016, LB794, § 7.
21-257. Notice of meeting.

(MBCA 7.05) (a) A corporation shall notify shareholders of the date, time, and place of each annual and special shareholders' meeting no fewer than ten nor more than sixty days before the meeting date. If the board of directors has authorized participation by means of remote communication pursuant to section 21-261 for any class or series of shareholders, the notice to such class or series of shareholders shall describe the means of remote communication to be used. The notice shall include the record date for determining the shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting, if such date is different than the record date for determining shareholders entitled to notice of the meeting. Unless the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act or the articles of incorporation require otherwise, the corporation is required to give notice only to shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting as of the record date for determining the shareholders entitled to notice of the meeting.

(b) Unless the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act or the articles of incorporation require otherwise, notice of an annual meeting need not include a description of the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called.

(c) Notice of a special meeting must include a description of the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called.

(d) If not otherwise fixed under section 21-255 or 21-259, the record date for determining shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at an annual or special shareholders' meeting is the day before the first notice is delivered to shareholders.

(e) Unless the bylaws require otherwise, if an annual or special shareholders' meeting is adjourned to a different date, time, or place, notice need not be given of the new date, time, or place if the new date, time, or place is announced at the meeting before adjournment. If a new record date for the adjourned meeting is or must be fixed under section 21-259, however, notice of the adjourned meeting must be given under this section to shareholders entitled to vote at such adjourned meeting as of the record date fixed for notice of such adjourned meeting.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 57.
21-258. Waiver of notice.

(MBCA 7.06) (a) A shareholder may waive any notice required by the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act, the articles of incorporation, or bylaws before or after the date and time stated in the notice. The waiver must be in writing, be signed by the shareholder entitled to the notice, and be delivered to the corporation for inclusion in the minutes or filing with the corporate records.

(b) A shareholder's attendance at a meeting:

(1) Waives objection to lack of notice or defective notice of the meeting, unless the shareholder at the beginning of the meeting objects to holding the meeting or transacting business at the meeting; and

(2) Waives objection to consideration of a particular matter at the meeting that is not within the purpose or purposes described in the meeting notice, unless the shareholder objects to considering the matter when it is presented.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 58.
21-259. Record date.

(MBCA 7.07) (a) The bylaws may fix or provide the manner of fixing the record date or dates for one or more voting groups in order to determine the shareholders entitled to notice of a shareholders' meeting, to demand a special meeting, to vote, or to take any other action. If the bylaws do not fix or provide for fixing a record date, the board of directors of the corporation may fix a future date as the record date.

(b) A record date fixed under this section may not be more than seventy days before the meeting or action requiring a determination of shareholders.

(c) A determination of shareholders entitled to notice of or to vote at a shareholders' meeting is effective for any adjournment of the meeting unless the board of directors fixes a new record date or dates which it must do if the meeting is adjourned to a date more than one hundred twenty days after the date fixed for the original meeting.

(d) If a court orders a meeting adjourned to a date more than one hundred twenty days after the date fixed for the original meeting, it may provide that the original record date or dates continue in effect or it may fix a new record date or dates.

(e) The record date for a shareholders' meeting fixed by or in the manner provided in the bylaws or by the board of directors shall be the record date for determining shareholders entitled both to notice of and to vote at the shareholders' meeting, unless in the case of a record date fixed by the board of directors and to the extent not prohibited by the bylaws, the board, at the time it fixes the record date for shareholders entitled to notice of the meeting, fixes a later record date on or before the date of the meeting to determine the shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 59.
21-260. Conduct of the meeting.

(MBCA 7.08) (a) At each meeting of shareholders, a chairperson shall preside. The chairperson shall be appointed as provided in the bylaws or, in the absence of such provision, by the board.

(b) The chairperson, unless the articles of incorporation or bylaws provide otherwise, shall determine the order of business and shall have the authority to establish rules for the conduct of the meeting.

(c) Any rules adopted for, and the conduct of, the meeting shall be fair to shareholders.

(d) The chairperson of the meeting shall announce at the meeting when the polls close for each matter voted upon. If no announcement is made, the polls shall be deemed to have closed upon the final adjournment of the meeting. After the polls close, no ballots, proxies, or votes nor any revocations or changes thereto may be accepted.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 60.
21-261. Remote participation in annual and special meetings.

(MBCA 7.09) (a) Shareholders of any class or series may participate in any meeting of shareholders by means of remote communication to the extent the board of directors authorizes such participation for such class or series. Participation by means of remote communication shall be subject to such guidelines and procedures as the board of directors adopts and shall be in conformity with subsection (b) of this section.

(b) Shareholders participating in a shareholders' meeting by means of remote communication shall be deemed present and may vote at such a meeting if the corporation has implemented reasonable measures:

(1) To verify that each person participating remotely is a shareholder; and

(2) To provide such shareholders a reasonable opportunity to participate in the meeting and to vote on matters submitted to the shareholders, including an opportunity to communicate and to read or hear the proceedings of the meeting substantially concurrently with such proceedings.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 61.
21-262. Shareholders' list for meeting.

(MBCA 7.20) (a) After fixing a record date for a meeting, a corporation shall prepare an alphabetical list of the names of all its shareholders who are entitled to notice of a shareholders' meeting. If the board of directors fixes a different record date under subsection (e) of section 21-259 to determine the shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting, a corporation also shall prepare an alphabetical list of the names of all its shareholders who are entitled to vote at the meeting. A list must be arranged by voting group, and within each voting group by class or series of shares, and show the address of and number of shares held by each shareholder.

(b) The shareholders' list for notice must be available for inspection by any shareholder, beginning two business days after notice of the meeting is given for which the list was prepared and continuing through the meeting, at the corporation's principal office or at a place identified in the meeting notice in the city where the meeting will be held. A shareholders' list for voting must be similarly available for inspection promptly after the record date for voting. A shareholder, or the shareholder's agent or attorney, is entitled upon written demand to inspect and, subject to the requirements of subsection (c) of section 21-2,222, to copy a list, during regular business hours and at the shareholder's expense, during the period it is available for inspection.

(c) The corporation shall make the list of shareholders entitled to vote available at the meeting, and any shareholder, or the shareholder's agent or attorney, is entitled to inspect the list at any time during the meeting or any adjournment.

(d) If the corporation refuses to allow a shareholder, or the shareholder's agent or attorney, to inspect a shareholders' list before or at the meeting or copy a list as permitted by subsection (b) of this section, the district court of the county where a corporation's principal office, or, if none in this state, its registered office, is located, on application of the shareholder, may summarily order the inspection or copying at the corporation's expense and may postpone the meeting for which the list was prepared until the inspection or copying is complete.

(e) Refusal or failure to prepare or make available the shareholders' list does not affect the validity of action taken at the meeting.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 62.
21-263. Voting entitlement of shares.

(MBCA 7.21) (a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (d) of this section or unless the articles of incorporation provide otherwise, each outstanding share, regardless of class, is entitled to one vote on each matter voted on at a shareholders' meeting. Only shares are entitled to vote.

(b) Absent special circumstances, the shares of a corporation are not entitled to vote if they are owned, directly or indirectly, by a second corporation, domestic or foreign, and the first corporation owns, directly or indirectly, a majority of the shares entitled to vote for directors of the second corporation.

(c) Subsection (b) of this section does not limit the power of a corporation to vote any shares, including its own shares, held by it in a fiduciary capacity.

(d) Redeemable shares are not entitled to vote after notice of redemption is mailed to the holders and a sum sufficient to redeem the shares has been deposited with a bank, trust company, or other financial institution under an irrevocable obligation to pay the holders the redemption price on surrender of the shares.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 63.
21-264. Proxies.

(MBCA 7.22) (a) A shareholder may vote the shareholder's shares in person or by proxy.

(b) A shareholder, or the shareholder's agent or attorney-in-fact, may appoint a proxy to vote or otherwise act for the shareholder by signing an appointment form or by an electronic transmission. An electronic transmission must contain or be accompanied by information from which the recipient can determine the date of the transmission and that the transmission was authorized by the sender or the sender's agent or attorney-in-fact.

(c) An appointment of a proxy is effective when a signed appointment form or an electronic transmission of the appointment is received by the inspector of election or the officer or agent of the corporation authorized to count votes. An appointment is valid for the term provided in the appointment form and, if no term is provided, is valid for eleven months unless the appointment is irrevocable under subsection (d) of this section.

(d) An appointment of a proxy is revocable unless the appointment form or electronic transmission states that it is irrevocable and the appointment is coupled with an interest. Appointments coupled with an interest include the appointment of:

(1) A pledgee;

(2) A person who purchased or agreed to purchase the shares;

(3) A creditor of the corporation who extended it credit under terms requiring the appointment;

(4) An employee of the corporation whose employment contract requires the appointment; or

(5) A party to a voting agreement created under section 21-273.

(e) The death or incapacity of the shareholder appointing a proxy does not affect the right of the corporation to accept the proxy's authority unless notice of the death or incapacity is received by the secretary or other officer or agent authorized to count votes before the proxy exercises authority under the appointment.

(f) An appointment made irrevocable under subsection (d) of this section is revoked when the interest with which it is coupled is extinguished.

(g) Unless it otherwise provides, an appointment made irrevocable under subsection (d) of this section continues in effect after a transfer of the shares and a transferee takes subject to the appointment, except that a transferee for value of shares subject to an irrevocable appointment may revoke the appointment if the transferee did not know of its existence when acquiring the shares and the existence of the irrevocable appointment was not noted conspicuously on the certificate representing the shares or on the information statement for shares without certificates.

(h) Subject to section 21-266 and to any express limitation on the proxy's authority stated in the appointment form or electronic transmission, a corporation is entitled to accept the proxy's vote or other action as that of the shareholder making the appointment.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 64; Laws 2017, LB35, § 7.
21-265. Shares held by intermediaries and nominees.

(MBCA 7.23) (a) A corporation's board of directors may establish a procedure under which a person on whose behalf shares are registered in the name of an intermediary or nominee may elect to be treated by the corporation as the record shareholder by filing with the corporation a beneficial ownership certificate. The extent, terms, conditions, and limitations of this treatment shall be specified in the procedure. To the extent such person is treated under such procedure as having rights or privileges that the record shareholder otherwise would have, the record shareholder shall not have those rights or privileges.

(b) The procedure shall specify:

(1) The types of intermediaries or nominees to which it applies;

(2) The rights or privileges that the corporation recognizes in a person with respect to whom a beneficial ownership certificate is filed;

(3) The manner in which the procedure is selected, which shall include that the beneficial ownership certificate be signed or assented to by or on behalf of the record shareholder and the person or persons on whose behalf the shares are held;

(4) The information that must be provided when the procedure is selected;

(5) The period for which selection of the procedure is effective;

(6) Requirements for notice to the corporation with respect to the arrangement; and

(7) The form and contents of the beneficial ownership certificate.

(c) The procedure may specify any other aspects of the rights and duties created by the filing of a beneficial ownership certificate.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 65; Laws 2017, LB35, § 8.
21-266. Corporation's acceptance of votes.

(MBCA 7.24) (a) If the name signed on a vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment corresponds to the name of a shareholder, the corporation if acting in good faith is entitled to accept the vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment and give it effect as the act of the shareholder.

(b) If the name signed on a vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment does not correspond to the name of its shareholder, the corporation if acting in good faith is nevertheless entitled to accept the vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment and give it effect as the act of the shareholder if:

(1) The shareholder is an entity and the name signed purports to be that of an officer or agent of the entity;

(2) The name signed purports to be that of an administrator, executor, guardian, or conservator representing the shareholder and, if the corporation requests, evidence of fiduciary status acceptable to the corporation has been presented with respect to the vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment;

(3) The name signed purports to be that of a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy of the shareholder and, if the corporation requests, evidence of this status acceptable to the corporation has been presented with respect to the vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment;

(4) The name signed purports to be that of a pledgee, beneficial owner, or attorney-in-fact of the shareholder and, if the corporation requests, evidence acceptable to the corporation of the signatory's authority to sign for the shareholder has been presented with respect to the vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment; or

(5) Two or more persons are the shareholder as cotenants or fiduciaries and the name signed purports to be the name of at least one of the co-owners and the person signing appears to be acting on behalf of all the co-owners.

(c) The corporation is entitled to reject a vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment if the person authorized to count votes, acting in good faith, has reasonable basis for doubt about the validity of the signature on it or about the signatory's authority to sign for the shareholder.

(d) Neither the corporation nor the person authorized to count votes, including an inspector of election under section 21-271, that accepts or rejects a vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment in good faith and in accordance with the standards of this section or subsection (b) of section 21-264 is liable in damages to the shareholder for the consequences of the acceptance or rejection.

(e) Corporate action based on the acceptance or rejection of a vote, ballot, consent, waiver, or proxy appointment under this section is valid unless a court of competent jurisdiction determines otherwise.

(f) If an inspector of election has been appointed under section 21-271, the inspector of election also has the authority to request information and make determinations under subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section. Any determination made by the inspector of election under those subsections is controlling.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 66; Laws 2017, LB35, § 9.
21-267. Quorum and voting requirements for voting groups.

(MBCA 7.25) (a) Shares entitled to vote as a separate voting group may take action on a matter at a meeting only if a quorum of those shares exists with respect to that matter. Unless the articles of incorporation provide otherwise, a majority of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter by the voting group constitutes a quorum of that voting group for action on that matter.

(b) Once a share is represented for any purpose at a meeting, it is deemed present for quorum purposes for the remainder of the meeting and for any adjournment of that meeting unless a new record date is or must be set for that adjourned meeting.

(c) If a quorum exists, action on a matter, other than the election of directors, by a voting group is approved if the votes cast within the voting group favoring the action exceed the votes cast opposing the action, unless the articles of incorporation require a greater number of affirmative votes.

(d) An amendment of articles of incorporation adding, changing, or deleting a quorum or voting requirement for a voting group greater than specified in subsection (a) or (c) of this section is governed by section 21-269.

(e) The election of directors is governed by section 21-270.

(f) Whenever a provision of the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act provides for voting of classes or series as separate voting groups, the rules provided in subsection (c) of section 21-2,153 for amendments of articles of incorporation apply to that provision.

Source:Laws 2014, LB749, § 67.