Sec. 52.012. RESTRICTIONS

(a) A marketing association shall be operated for the mutual benefit of its members, as producers, and shall conform to one or both of the following requirements:

(1) a member of the association may not have more than one vote based on the member's ownership of stock or membership capital in the association; or

(2) the association may not pay dividends on stock or membership capital in excess of eight percent a year.

(b) A marketing association may deal in the products and supplies of nonmembers. However, except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section, an association is restricted to an amount of nonmember products and supplies that is not greater than the value of the products that it handles for its members.

(c) A marketing association that is organized primarily for the production, cultivation, and care of citrus groves or for the processing and marketing of citrus products and for which the principal offices are located in a county in which not less than 500 acres of land are planted in producing citrus groves may deal in the products and supplies of nonmembers to an amount that is greater than the value of the products that it handles for its members for the 10-year period immediately following a natural disaster, such as a severe freeze, during which the citrus crops of the association's membership are substantially reduced as a direct result of the disaster.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1104, ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 575, Sec. 1, eff. June 12, 1985; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 147, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1993.