This story we put forth here is to inform and educate as well as expose what we have found and the steps we are taking.
You may disagree with the information. You may not agree with the actions we are taking. You may disagree on anything you wish. With that said as it our right afforded to us by God and the Constitution which is a codification of those rights. You have the right to voice your oposition as well. This is a FREE County if we stand up and insure that it is here for future generations.
We feel that Valley Electric and all that state they represent the organization have for a long time been gaslighting (lying) to the members. The actions they have taken are obvious. They have gone so far as to have a member of our team threatened by another member of the Town of Pahrump in an attempt to instigate an altercation. We know this because this person was not intelligent enough to relay information specifically pertaining to Valley Electric and the actions, we are taking prior to anyone else knowing except high level persons within Valley Electric. We state here now that these tactics will not work, and threats will not stop what is coming. The Truth will be displayed for all to see.
What we are going to show you may be hard to understand and believe. We invite you to look these items up yourself and determine what is the truth. Links and copies of documents will be provided to further assist in your independent evaluation of the facts.
The General History of Cooperatives form of organization originated in England in the early 1800’s to improve the economic lot of workers and farmers, two groups that suffered during the industrial revolution. Workers, with little bargaining power, suffered low wages. Farmers operated in an especially precarious economic environment, paying retail prices for their raw materials, but selling their output wholesale in markets that fluctuated widely and unpredictably. To gain economic power, workers and farmers organized and pooled resources to form sufficient capital to control the means of production, obtain supplies and services, or market their goods or services. The cooperative became very popular, and it spread to and throughout the United States. Congress recognized the contributions and importance of cooperatives even before ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution authorized the income tax. Congress provided exemption from federal excise taxes to cooperative companies, not for profit mutual benefit associations, and agricultural, horticultural, and domestic General Survey of I.R.C. 501(c)(12) Cooperatives and Examination of Current Issues building and loan associations. See, The War Revenue Act of 1898, Pub. L. No. 55-133, 30 Stat. 448 (1898) and Pub. L. No. 61-5 §38, 36 Stat. 11, 115 (1909).
VEA is a Cooperative for tax purposes. This means that it does not pay taxes as it is not a for profit organization. The link to what requirements the IRS requires is here: A 501c12 is what Valley Electric is. The link for the rules they must follow to remain tax exempt. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopice02.pdf
There is a misconception that because VEA is a cooperative they are not in any way regulated by Nevada Revised Statutes. From the https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopice02.pdf, see page 183
D. Cooperative Principles and State Laws I.R.C. 501(c)(12) and the regulations do not require a cooperative to organize under a state cooperative statute, unlike I.R.C. 521 farmers’ cooperatives. But, many states have cooperative statutes that govern cooperatives described in I.R.C. 501(c)(12). For example, section 57.001 of the Texas Nonprofit Water Supply or Sewer Service Corporations statute governs the formation and operation of nonprofit water and sewer organizations. State cooperative statutes do not usually cause conflicts with the cooperative principles (democratic vote, non-forfeiture of assets of former members, etc.). In reviewing a cooperative’s governing instruments to determine if it satisfies all organizational and operational requirements, a determination specialist should also review the State’s cooperative statute to ensure there is no conflict.
Basically what we believe this says that unless the state statute is interfering with the parts the IRS holds when certifying an organization as a 501c12 then state statute prevails. The only conflict would arrise if the cooperative was in danger of losing their tax status. An example would be if the state wanted the ooperatiive to sell its services outside of the 85% membership rule.
We now discuss the Nevada Revised Statutes we feel that VEA has and is violation of.
NRS: CHAPTER 81 - MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS (state.nv.us)
NRS 81.030 Memberships: Certificates; transfer and assignment.
2. The corporation shall issue a certificate of membership to each member, but the membership or the certificate thereof shall not, except as provided in NRS 81.010 to 81.160, inclusive, be assigned by any member to any other person, nor shall the assigns thereof be entitled to membership in the corporation, or to any property rights or interest therein.
We know that members have numbers but as of now I have yet heard of any member receiving a certificate. Nor have they received a certificate for the four (4) for profit LLCs currently owned and managed by VEA. (We will get into more information about these companies later)
NRS 81.230 Bylaws: Adoption; amendment; required and optional provisions.
1. Every association formed under NRS 81.170 to 81.270, inclusive, must, within 40 days after it so becomes an association, adopt a code of bylaws for the government and management of the association, not inconsistent with NRS 81.170 to 81.270, inclusive. A majority of all the associates is necessary to the adoption of bylaws, and the bylaws must be written in a book and signed by the members adopting them.
2. The bylaws cannot be amended or modified except by the vote of a majority of all the members after notice of the proposed amendment is given as the bylaws may provide.
3. The bylaws must provide for the amount of the indebtedness which the association may incur.
We through our investigation believe that VEA is in violation of section 2 and 3.
Section 2 is a very serious matter. Currently this cooperative has the following debts:
2022-Financial-Audit.pdf (vea.coop) page 7
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES
CFC mortgage notes $ 130,210,417
CoBank mortgage notes $ 60,306,779
Other long-term debt $ 13,788,479
Long-term payables - $ 5,599,674
Total noncurrent liabilities $204,305,675 (Million)
Throughout the accounting document VEA feels that they have a right to block out information. Examples are here.
We further realized that the bylaws dated July 11, 2021 were never passed correctly as is required.
This is a long form text area designed for your content that you can fill up with as many words as your heart desires. You can write articles, long mission statements, company policies, executive profiles, company awards/distinctions, office locations, shareholder reports, whitepapers, media mentions and other pieces of content that don’t fit into a shorter, more succinct space.
Articles – Good topics for articles include anything related to your company – recent changes to operations, the latest company softball game – or the industry you’re in. General business trends (think national and even international) are great article fodder, too.
Mission statements – You can tell a lot about a company by its mission statement. Don’t have one? Now might be a good time to create one and post it here. A good mission statement tells you what drives a company to do what it does.
Company policies – Are there company policies that are particularly important to your business? Perhaps your unlimited paternity/maternity leave policy has endeared you to employees across the company. This is a good place to talk about that.
Executive profiles – A company is only as strong as its executive leadership. This is a good place to show off who’s occupying the corner offices. Write a nice bio about each executive that includes what they do, how long they’ve been at it, and what got them to where they are.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.