Title 65, Public Utilities and Carriers

(a) The articles of incorporation of a cooperative shall recite in the caption that they are executed pursuant to this chapter, shall be signed and acknowledged by each of the incorporators, and shall state:(1) The name of the cooperative;(2) The address of its principal office;(…

The board of directors shall adopt the first bylaws to be adopted following an incorporation, conversion, merger or consolidation. Thereafter, bylaws shall be adopted, amended, or repealed by its members, by the affirmative vote of a majority of those members voting thereon at a …

(a) No person who is not an incorporator shall become a member of a cooperative unless such person shall agree to use telephone service furnished by the cooperative when such telephone service shall be available through its facilities. The bylaws of a cooperative may provide that…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any proposition embodied in a petition signed by not less than ten percent (10%) of all members of the cooperative, together with any document submitted with such petition to give effect to the proposition, shall be submitt…

(a) The business and affairs of a cooperative shall be managed by a board of not less than five (5) directors, each of whom shall be a member of the cooperative or of another cooperative which is a member. The bylaws shall prescribe the number of directors, their qualifications a…

The officers of a cooperative shall consist of a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, who shall be elected annually by and from the board of directors. No person shall continue to hold any of the above offices after having ceased to be a director. The offices of s…

(a) A cooperative may amend its articles of incorporation by complying with the following requirements:(1) The proposed amendment shall be first approved by the board of directors and shall then be submitted to a vote of the members at any annual or special meeting thereof, the n…

(1) Any two (2) or more cooperatives, each of which is hereinafter designated a “consolidating cooperative,” may consolidate into a new cooperative, hereinafter designated the “new cooperative,” by complying with the following requirements:(1) The proposition for the consolidatio…

(1) Any one (1) or more cooperatives, each of which is hereinafter designated a “merging cooperative,” may merge into another cooperative, hereinafter designated the “surviving cooperative,” by complying with the following requirements:(1) The proposition for the merger of the me…

(1) The effect of consolidation or merger shall be as follows:(1) The several cooperatives, parties to the consolidation or merger, shall be a single cooperative, which, in the case of a consolidation, shall be the new cooperative provided for in the articles of consolidation, an…

(a) Any corporation, private or not-for-profit organized under the laws of this state for the purpose, among others, of supplying telephone service to its subscribers may be converted into a cooperative and become subject to this chapter with the same effect as if originally orga…

(a) A cooperative which has not commenced business may dissolve voluntarily by delivering to the secretary of state articles of dissolution, executed and acknowledged on behalf of the cooperative by a majority of the incorporators, which shall state:(1) The name of the cooperativ…

Articles of incorporation, amendment, consolidation, merger, conversion, or dissolution, as the case may be, when executed and acknowledged and accompanied by such affidavits as may be required by applicable provisions of this chapter, shall be presented to the secretary of state…

(1) The secretary of state shall charge and collect for the filing of:(1) Articles of incorporation, twenty-five dollars ($25.00);(2) Articles of amendment, fifteen dollars ($15.00);(3) Articles of consolidation or merger, fifteen dollars ($15.00);(4) Articles of conversion, fift…

(a) Revenues of a corporation for any fiscal year may be used to:(1) Defray expenses of the cooperative and of the operation and maintenance of its facilities during such fiscal year;(2) Pay the interest and principal obligations of the cooperative coming due in such fiscal year;…

(a) A cooperative may not sell, mortgage, lease, or otherwise dispose of or encumber all or any major portion of its property unless such sale, mortgage, lease, or other disposition or encumbrance is authorized at a duly held meeting of the members thereof by the affirmative vote…

The private property of the members of a cooperative shall be exempt from execution for the debts of the cooperative, and no member shall be liable or responsible for any debts of the cooperative.

Any mortgage, deed of trust, or other instrument executed by a cooperative or foreign corporation transacting business in this state pursuant to this chapter, which, by its terms, creates a lien upon real and personal property then owned or after-acquired, and which is recorded a…

(a) No property which is owned or held for public use, nor any interest therein, shall be condemned pursuant to the authority granted in § 65-29-104 if in the judgment of the court the condemnation of such property or interest therein will obstruct, prevent, burden, interfere wit…

Whenever any notice is required to be given under this chapter or under the articles of incorporation or bylaws of a cooperative, waiver thereof in writing, signed by the person or persons entitled to such notice, whether before or after the time fixed for the giving of such noti…

No person who is authorized to take acknowledgments under the laws of this state shall be disqualified from taking acknowledgments of instruments executed in favor of a cooperative or to which it is a party, by reason of being an officer, director, or member of such cooperative.

Any corporation organized on a nonprofit or a cooperative basis for the purpose of supplying telephone service and owning or operating telephone service lines in a state adjacent to this state shall be permitted to construct or acquire extensions of such lines and to transact bus…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to exempt cooperatives and foreign corporations furnishing telephone service in this state pursuant to this chapter from ad valorem property taxes. Assessment schedules for such property shall be filed with the comptroller of the treasur…

(a) Cooperatives and foreign corporations engaged in rendering telephone service in this state pursuant to this chapter fall within the jurisdiction of the Tennessee public utility commission for the sole and specific purposes as set out below:(1) The establishment of territorial…

Title 48, chapter 16 shall not apply to any note, bond, or other evidence of indebtedness issued by any cooperative or foreign corporation transacting business in this state pursuant to this chapter to the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or to any mortgage…

This chapter shall be construed liberally. The enumeration of any object, purpose, power, manner, method, or thing shall not be deemed to exclude like or similar objects, purposes, powers, manners, methods, or things.

(a) It is a Class C misdemeanor in such cooperative elections to:(1) Commit any act prohibited in title 2, chapter 19, part 1;(2) Prepare more ballots than the number of accounts or eligible members of the cooperative holding the election;(3) Violate the rules or bylaws of the co…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, in any cooperative organized under this chapter which provides service in five (5) or more counties, including a county containing and physically divided by a United States government corps of engineers dam and reservoir project of…

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the “State Radio Common Carrier Act.”

Upon investigation, the general assembly has determined that the rates, services and operations of radio common carriers are affected with a public interest, and it is hereby declared to be the policy of this state to provide fair regulation of such carriers in the interest of th…

(1) As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Commission” means the Tennessee public utility commission;(2) “Radio common carrier” and “carrier” includes any person, firm, corporation, company, association or partnership owning, operating or managing a b…

(a) This chapter relates only to “radio common carriers” as defined in § 65-30-103 and shall not apply to mobile radio telephone service offered by land line telephone or telegraph utilities regulated by the commission. (b) This chapter shall not apply to operations of radio or t…

(a) No person or organization shall hereafter begin the construction, extension or operation of a radio common carrier system or acquire ownership or control thereof, without first obtaining from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and neces…

(a) The commission has the power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate every radio common carrier operating within this state and its property, property rights, equipment, facilities, contracts, certificates and franchises so far as may be necessary to carry out the purposes…

The commission shall prescribe just and reasonable rates, charges and classifications for the services rendered by a radio common carrier to subscribers. Tariffs shall be in such form and filed and published in such manner and on such notice as the commission may prescribe.

(a) Each radio common carrier shall provide safe and adequate service, equipment and facilities for the operation of its system. (b) No radio common carrier shall demand or receive a greater or less or different compensation for providing service than the rates and charges specif…

No radio common carrier shall abandon all or any part of its system or other property necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, or discontinue or temporarily suspend all or any part of the service which it is rendering to the public by the use of same, w…

Whenever the commission finds that public convenience and necessity require the interconnection of the radio communications facilities of a certificated radio common carrier with the telephone facilities of a land line telephone utility serving all or part of the certificated ter…

The supervision, control and regulation of public utilities are provided for under chapter 4 of this title and these provisions, and specifically, chapter 4, part 3 of this title, shall apply to radio common carriers.

Any person or the officer, agent or employee of any organization who willfully violates any provisions of this chapter or of any rule, regulation or order adopted thereunder, or who willfully procures, aids or abets any violation of such a provision, commits a Class C misdemeanor…

This chapter may be cited as the “Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act.”

(1) As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Agricultural purposes,” for purposes of this chapter only, includes surface activities, such as plowing, planting, and combining, but does not include blasting, setting drainage tiles, subsoiling, or other su…

A permit issued pursuant to law authorizing excavation or demolition operations shall not be deemed to relieve a person from the responsibility for complying with this chapter.

(a) Except as provided in § 65-31-109, no person may excavate in a street, highway, public space, a private easement of an operator or within one hundred feet (100′) of the edge of the pavement of a street or highway, or demolish a building, without giving the notice required by …

(a) Each operator, except operators participating in a one-call service, having underground facilities in a county, including those facilities that have been abandoned in place by the operator but not yet physically removed, shall file a notice with the register of deeds of the c…

(a) (1) Except as provided in § 65-31-109, before beginning any excavation or demolition operation described in § 65-31-104, each person responsible for such excavation or demolition shall serve written, telephonic, or electronic notice of intent to excavate or demolish at least …