§269-17.5  Issuance of voting stock;restrictions.  (a)  For purposes of this section "foreigncorporation" means a foreign corporation as defined in section 235-1 or acorporation in which a majority of the voting stock is held by a single foreigncorporation as defined in section 235-1.

(b)  "Nonresident alien" means aperson not a citizen of the United States who is not defined as a residentalien by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

(c)  No more than twenty-five per cent of the issuedand outstanding voting stock of a corporation organized under the laws of theState and who owns, controls, operates, or manages any plant or equipment, orany part thereof, as a public utility within the definition set forth insection 269-1 shall be held, whether directly or indirectly, by any singleforeign corporation or any single nonresident alien, or held by any person,unless prior written approval is obtained from the public utilities commission,or unless a transaction is exempt.  An exempt transaction is:

(1)  Any purchase or sale by an underwriter; or

(2)  A transaction to acquire shares of a corporationwith less than one hundred shareholders and less than $1,000,000 in assets.

Every assignment, transfer, contract, or agreementfor assignment or transfer of any shares in violation of this section shall bevoid and of no effect; and no such transfer shall be made on the books of thecorporation.  Nothing herein shall be construed to make illegal the holding ofstock lawfully held, directly or indirectly, prior to June 4, 1977. [L 1977, c168, §2; am L 1998, c 73, §1; am L 2005, c 22, §11]