West Virginia Code § 32-4-402

Exemptions
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(a) The following securities are exempt from §32-3-301 and §32-4-403 of this code:
(1) Any security (including a revenue obligation) issued or guaranteed by the United States,
any state, any political subdivision of a state, or any agency or corporate or other
instrumentality of one or more of the foregoing; or any certificate of deposit for any of the
foregoing;
(2) Any security issued or guaranteed by Canada, any Canadian province, any political
subdivision of any such province, any agency or corporate or othuer instrumentality of one or
more of the foregoing, or any other foreign government with which the United States
currently maintains diplomatic relations, if the security is recognized as a valid obligation by
the issuer or guarantor;
(3) Any security issued by and representing an interest in or a debt of, or guaranteed by, any
bank organized under the laws of the United Statesl, or any bank, savings institution or trust
company organized and supervised under thes laws of any state;
(4) Any security issued by and representinig an interest in or a debt of, or guaranteed by, any
federal savings and loan association, or any building and loan or similar association
organized under the laws of any state and authorized to do business in this state;
(5) Any security issued by and representing an interest in or a debt of, or guaranteed by, any
insurance company organized under the laws of any state and authorized to do business in
this state;
(6) Any security issue d or guaranteed by any federal credit union or any credit union,
industrial loanV association or similar association organized and supervised under the laws of
this state;
(7) Any security issued or guaranteed by any railroad, other common carrier, public utility or
holding company which is: (A) Subject to the jurisdiction of the interstate commerce
commission; (B) a registered holding company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act
of 1935, or a subsidiary of such a company within the meaning of that act; (C) regulated in
respect of its rates and charges by a governmental authority of the United States or any
state; or (D) regulated in respect of the issuance or guarantee of the security by a
governmental authority of the United States, any state, Canada, or any Canadian province;
(8) Any security listed or approved for listing upon notice of issuance on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, or the Midwest Stock Exchange, any other stock
exchange approved by the commissioner, the National Association of Securities Dealers
Automated Quotation/National Market System (NASDAQ/NMS), or any other market system
approved by the commissioner, any other security of the same issuer which is of senior or
substantially equal rank, any security called for by subscription rights or warrants so listed
or approved, or any warrant or right to purchase or subscribe to any of the foregoing, except
that the commissioner may adopt and promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 29A of this code
which, after notice to such exchange or market system and an opportunity to be heard,
remove any such exchange or market system from this exemption if the commissioner finds
that the listing requirements or market surveillance of such exchange or market system are
such that the continued availability of such exemption for such exchange or market system is
not in the public interest and that removal is necessary for the protection ofe investors;
(9) Any security issued by any person organized and operated not for prrivate profit but
exclusively for religious, educational, benevolent, charitable, fraternal, social, athletic, or
reformatory purposes, or as a chamber of commerce or trade or professional association,
and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any person, private
stockholder or individual; t
(10) Any commercial paper which arises out of a current transaction or the proceeds of
which have been or are to be used for current transactions, and which evidences an
obligation to pay cash within 12 months of the date of issuance, exclusive of days of grace,
or any renewal of such paper which is likewises limited, or any guarantee of such paper or of
any such renewal;
(11) Any investment contract issuedg in connection with an employees' stock purchase,
savings, pension, profit-sharing, or similar benefit plan if the commissioner is notified in
writing 30 days before the inceeption of the plan or, with respect to plans which are in effect
on the effective date of this chapter, within 60 days thereafter (or within 30 days before they
are reopened if they areL closed on the effective date of this chapter);
(12) Any security issued by an agricultural cooperative association operating in this state
and organized under §19-4-1 et seq. of this code, or by a foreign cooperative association
organized under the laws of another state and duly qualified to transact business in this
state.
(b) The following transactions are exempt from §32-3-301 and §32-4-403 of this code:
(1) Any isolated nonissuer transaction, whether effected through a broker-dealer or not;
(2) Any nonissuer distribution of an outstanding security if: (A) A recognized securities
manual contains the names of the issuer's officers and directors, a balance sheet of the
issuer as of a date within 18 months, and a profit and loss statement for either the fiscal year
preceding that date or the most recent year of operations; or (B) the security has a fixed
maturity or a fixed interest or dividend provision and there has been no default during the
current fiscal year or within the three preceding fiscal years, or during the existence of the
issuer and any predecessors if less than three years, in the payment of principal, interest or
dividends on the security;
(3) Any nonissuer transaction effected by or through a registered broker-dealer pursuant to
an unsolicited order or offer to buy; but the commissioner may by rule require that the
customer acknowledge upon a specified form that the sale was unsolicited, and that a signed
copy of each such form be preserved by the broker-dealer for a specified period;
(4) Any transaction between the issuer or other person on whose behalf the offering is made
and an underwriter, or among underwriters;
(5) Any transaction in a bond or other evidence of indebtedness secured by a real or chattel
mortgage or deed of trust, or by an agreement for the sale of real estate or chattels, if the
entire mortgage, deed of trust, or agreement, together with all the bonds or other evidence
of indebtedness secured thereby, is offered and sold as a unit; u
(6) Any transaction by an executor, administrator, sheriff, marshal, constable, receiver,
trustee in bankruptcy, guardian, or conservator, and any transaction constituting a judicial
sale; a
(7) Any transaction executed by a bona fide pledgele without any purpose of evading this
chapter; s
(8) Any offer or sale to a bank, savings instiitution, trust company, insurance company,
investment company as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, pension or profit-
sharing trust, or other financial institution or institutional buyer, or to a broker-dealer,
whether the purchaser is acting for itself or in some fiduciary capacity;
(9) Any transaction pursuant to an offer directed by the offeror to not more than 10 persons
(other than those designated in subdivision (8) of this subsection) in this state during any
period of 12 consecutive months, whether or not the offeror or any of the offerees is then
present in this state, if: (A) The seller reasonably believes that all the buyers in this state
(other than thVose designated in subdivision (8) of this subsection) are purchasing for
investment; and (B) no commission or other remuneration is paid or given, directly or
indirectly, for soliciting any prospective buyer in this state (other than those designated in
subdivision (8) of this subsection), but the commissioner may by rule or order, as to any
security or transaction or any type of security or transaction, withdraw or further condition
this exemption, or increase or decrease the number of offerees permitted, or waive the
conditions in clauses (A) and (B) with or without the substitution of a limitation on
remuneration;
(10) Any offer or sale of a preorganization certificate or subscription if: (A) No commission
or other remuneration is paid or given, directly or indirectly, for soliciting any prospective
subscriber; (B) the number of subscribers does not exceed 10; and (C) no payment is made
by any subscriber;
(11) Any transaction pursuant to an offer to existing security holders of the issuer, including
persons who at the time of the transaction are holders of convertible securities,
nontransferable warrants or transferable warrants exercisable within not more than 90 days
of their issuance, if: (A) No commission or other remuneration (other than a standby
commission) is paid or given, directly or indirectly, for soliciting any security holder in this
state; or (B) the issuer first files a notice specifying the terms of the offer and the
commissioner does not by order disallow the exemption within the next five full business
days;
(12) Any offer (but not a sale) of a security for which registration statementse have been filed
under both this chapter and the Securities Act of 1933 if no stop order or refusal order is in
effect and no public proceeding or examination looking toward such anr order is pending
under either chapter;
(13) A transaction in a security, whether or not the security or transaction is otherwise
exempt, in exchange for one or more bona fide outstanding stecurities, claims, or property
interests, or partly in exchange and partly for cash, if the terms and conditions of the
issuance and exchange or delivery and exchange and the fairness of the terms and
conditions have been approved by the commissioner at a hearing as provided in §32-4-402a
of this code.
(c) The commissioner may by order deny or revoke any exemption specified in subdivision
(9) or (11) of subsection (a) or in subsection (b) of this section with respect to a specific
security or transaction. No such ordger may be entered without appropriate prior notice to all
interested parties, opportunity for hearing, and written findings of fact and conclusions of
law, except that the commissioener may by order summarily deny or revoke any of the
specified exemptions pending final determination of any proceeding under this subsection.
Upon the entry of a sumLmary order, the commissioner shall promptly notify all interested
parties that it has been entered and of the reasons therefor and that within 15 days of the
receipt of a written request the matter will be set down for hearing. If no hearing is
requested and none is ordered by the commissioner, the order will remain in effect until it is
modified or vacated by the commissioner. If a hearing is requested or ordered, the
commissioner, after notice of and opportunity for hearing to all interested persons, may
modWify or vacate the order or extend it until final determination. No order under this
subsection may operate retroactively. No person may be considered to have violated
§32-3-301 and §32-4-403 of this code by reasons of any offer or sale effected after the entry
of an order under this subsection if he or she sustains the burden of proof that he or she did
not know, and in the exercise of reasonable care could not have known, of the order.
(d) In any proceeding under this chapter, the burden of proving an exemption or an
exception from a definition is upon the person claiming it.

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