{"data":{"id":"us-ma/mass.-gen.-laws-ch.-157b-11","jurisdiction":"us-ma","citation":"Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 157B, § 11","heading":"Net savings; apportionment","body":"Section 11. At least once a year the board of every cooperative corporation shall, after first setting aside an adequate portion of the net savings in a reserve fund for the general operation of the business, apportion the remainder of the net savings in one or more of the following ways:\n(1) as a dividend not to exceed ten per cent, noncumulative, upon one or more classes of stock;\n(2) as an equitable distribution or refund to all patrons in proportion to their individual patronage except that (a) in the case of a subscriber patron, the distribution or refund may be credited to the subscriber's account until the subscription has been fully paid, and (b) in the case of a nonmember patron, the amount otherwise distributable may be retained by the cooperative corporation;\n(3) this section does not prevent a cooperative corporation from disposing of the net savings by reducing the cost of goods, facilities or services or by applying such net savings otherwise for the common benefit of members;\n(4) this section does not prevent a cooperative corporation from adopting a system by which the payment of net savings are deferred for a fixed period of time, nor from adopting a system in which the net savings distributed are partly in cash and partly in stock.","path":["Part I","Title XXII","Chapter 157B"],"source_url":"https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXII/Chapter157B/Section11","current_through":"amendments passed before May 31, 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-17T05:23:43Z","sha256":"6332ab131b8b8fa0c3ac6e9bb0b937454bced3257dd703e44d507d6f21e3ee4f","source_id":"us-ma","stale":false,"prev":"us-ma/mass.-gen.-laws-ch.-157b-10","next":"us-ma/mass.-gen.-laws-ch.-157b-12"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}