(a) A member of a membership nonprofit corporation is entitled to inspect and copy, during regular business hours at the membership nonprofit corporation’s principal office, any of the records of the membership nonprofit corporation described in Section 10A-3A-4.01(a), excluding minutes of meetings of, and records of actions taken without a meeting by, the membership nonprofit corporation’s board of directors and board committees established under Section 10A-3A-8.25, if the member gives the membership nonprofit corporation a signed written notice of the member’s demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy.
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Terms Used In Alabama Code 10A-3A-4.02

  • certificate of incorporation: as used in this chapter is synonymous to the term certificate of formation used in Chapter 1. See Alabama Code 10A-3A-1.02
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • following: means next after. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(b) A member of a membership nonprofit corporation is entitled to inspect and copy, during regular business hours at a reasonable location specified by the membership nonprofit corporation, any of the following records of the membership nonprofit corporation if the member meets the requirements of subsection (c) and gives the membership nonprofit corporation a signed written notice of the member’s demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy:

(1) the financial statements of the membership nonprofit corporation maintained in accordance with Section 10A-3A-4.01(b);
(2) accounting records of the membership nonprofit corporation; and
(3) excerpts from minutes of any meeting of, or records of any actions taken without a meeting by, the board of directors and board committees maintained in accordance with Section 10A-3A-4.01(a); and
(4) subject to Section 10A-3A-4.06, the record of members maintained in accordance with Section 10A-3A-4.01(d).
(c) A member may inspect and copy the records described in subsection (b) only if:

(1) the member’s demand is made in good faith and for a proper purpose;
(2) the member’s demand describes with reasonable particularity the member’s purpose and the records the member desires to inspect; and
(3) the records are directly connected with the member’s purpose.
(d) The membership nonprofit corporation may impose reasonable restrictions and conditions on access to and use of the records to be inspected and copied under subsections (a) and (b), including designating information confidential and imposing nondisclosure and safeguarding, and may further keep confidential from its members and other persons, for a period of time as the membership nonprofit corporation deems reasonable any information that the membership nonprofit corporation reasonably believes to be in the nature of a trade secret or other information the disclosure of which the membership nonprofit corporation in good faith believes is not in the best interest of the membership nonprofit corporation or could damage the membership nonprofit corporation or its activities or affairs, or that the membership nonprofit corporation is required by law or by agreement with a third party to keep confidential. In any dispute concerning the reasonableness of a restriction under this subsection, the membership nonprofit corporation has the burden of proving reasonableness.
(e) For any meeting of members for which the record date for determining members entitled to vote at the meeting is different than the record date for notice of the meeting, any person who becomes a member subsequent to the record date for notice of the meeting and is entitled to vote at the meeting is entitled to obtain from the membership nonprofit corporation upon request the notice and any other information provided by the membership nonprofit corporation to members in connection with the meeting, unless the membership nonprofit corporation has made that information generally available to members by posting it on its website or by other generally recognized means. Failure of a membership nonprofit corporation to provide that information does not affect the validity of action taken at the meeting.
(f) Subject to Section 10A-3A-4.20, the right of inspection granted by Section 10A-3A-4.02(b) may be limited by a membership nonprofit corporation’s certificate of incorporation.
(g) This section does not affect:

(1) the right of a member to inspect records under Section 10A-3A-7.20 or, if the member is in litigation with the membership nonprofit corporation, to the same extent as any other litigant; or
(2) the power of a court, independently of this chapter, to compel the production of corporate records for examination and to impose reasonable restrictions as provided in Section 10A-3A-4.04(c), provided that, in the case of production of records described in subsection (b) of this section at the request of the member, the member has met the requirements of subsection (c) of this section.
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