Purpose of a Corporation · Section 7

Section 6 of 9

The constituency-statute landscape

1983 · present

Long-form source as of MAY 28, 2026

Pennsylvania enacted the first “other constituency” statute in 1983 and the most permissive of the constituency statutes in 1990. The 1990 statute provides that directors “may, in considering the best interests of the corporation,” consider “[t]he effects of any action upon any or all groups affected by such action, including shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers and creditors of the corporation, and upon communities in which offices or other establishments of the corporation are located,” and explicitly relieves directors of any duty to “regard any corporate interest or the interests of any particular group affected by such action as a dominant or controlling interest or factor.”31 Thirty-three U.S. states have enacted constituency statutes of varying scope; Delaware has deliberately not done so, on the consistent recommendation of the Delaware Bar's Corporation Law Council that the public benefit corporation form is the appropriate vehicle for express stakeholder balancing.32

Figure 2

Constituency statutes by state, 2025.
Constituency statute enacted (33) Delaware — deliberately no statute (1) No constituency statute (16 states + DC) ME VT NH MA RI CT NJ DE NY PA OH MI IN IL WI MN IA MO ND SD NE KS MD DC VA WV NC SC GA FL KY TN AL MS LA AR TX OK NM AZ CO UT NV ID WY MT WA OR CA AK HI

Sources: 15 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1715 (1990); compilations in Brett H. McDonnell, Corporate Constituency Statutes and Employee Governance, 30 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1227 (2004) (counting thirty-one states at time of writing); Anthony Bisconti, Note, The Double Bottom Line: Can Constituency Statutes Protect Socially Responsible Corporations Stuck in Revlon Land?, 42 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 765 (2009) (updating to thirty-three states). Delaware's deliberate non-adoption is documented in the Delaware Bar Council reports cited at footnote 32. Cell-level color coding is based on whether a state has any “other constituencies” or “non-shareholder interests” statute on the books; statutes vary materially in scope and operative trigger.

All 33 constituency-statute citations — click to expand

Each entry below pin-cites the operative constituency-statute provision in one of the thirty-three states identified in Figure 2 above. Citations follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Columbia L. Rev. Ass’n et al. eds., 21st ed. 2020), Tables T1.3 (state code abbreviations) and T1 (publisher designations). The year parenthetical reflects the current code through the 2025 cumulative supplement. Links resolve to the official state-legislature compilation where available; Justia state-code mirrors are used as fallbacks where the official compilation lacks deep-linkable section URLs. Several states (notably Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming) have enacted the Model Business Corporation Act’s “other constituencies” formulation in the § 8.30 family; those sections are cited to the recodified MBCA location.

  1. Arizona. Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 10-2702 (2025), azleg.gov.
  2. Connecticut. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 33-756(d) (2025), cga.ct.gov.
  3. Florida. Fla. Stat. § 607.0830(3) (2025), leg.state.fl.us.
  4. Georgia. Ga. Code Ann. § 14-2-202(b)(5) (2025), Justia codes.
  5. Hawaii. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 414-221(b) (2025), capitol.hawaii.gov.
  6. Idaho. Idaho Code § 30-29-830(g) (2025), legislature.idaho.gov.
  7. Illinois. 805 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/8.85 (2025), ilga.gov.
  8. Indiana. Ind. Code § 23-1-35-1(d) (2025), iga.in.gov.
  9. Iowa. Iowa Code § 491.101B (2025), legis.iowa.gov.
  10. Kentucky. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 271B.12-210(4) (West 2025), apps.legislature.ky.gov.
  11. Louisiana. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 12:1-830(G) (2025), legis.la.gov.
  12. Maine. Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 13-C, § 831(6) (2025), mainelegislature.org.
  13. Maryland. Md. Code Ann., Corps. & Ass’ns § 2-104(b)(9) (West 2025), mgaleg.maryland.gov.
  14. Massachusetts. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156D, § 8.30(a)(3) (2025), malegislature.gov.
  15. Minnesota. Minn. Stat. § 302A.251 subdiv. 5 (2025), revisor.mn.gov.
  16. Mississippi. Miss. Code Ann. § 79-4-8.30(d) (2025), Justia codes.
  17. Missouri. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 351.347 (2025), revisor.mo.gov.
  18. Nebraska. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 21-2,103 (2025), nebraskalegislature.gov.
  19. Nevada. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 78.138(4) (2025), leg.state.nv.us.
  20. New Jersey. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 14A:6-1(2) (West 2025), Justia codes.
  21. New Mexico. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 53-11-35(D) (2025), nmonesource.com.
  22. New York. N.Y. Bus. Corp. Law § 717(b) (McKinney 2025), nysenate.gov.
  23. North Dakota. N.D. Cent. Code § 10-19.1-50(6) (2025), ndlegis.gov.
  24. Ohio. Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1701.59(F) (West 2025), codes.ohio.gov.
  25. Oregon. Or. Rev. Stat. § 60.357(5) (2025), oregon.public.law.
  26. Pennsylvania. 15 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1715 (2025), legis.state.pa.us.
  27. Rhode Island. R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-5.2-8 (2025), rilegislature.gov.
  28. South Dakota. S.D. Codified Laws § 47-33-4 (2025), sdlegislature.gov.
  29. Tennessee. Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-103-204 (2025), Justia codes.
  30. Vermont. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 11A, § 8.30(a)(3) (2025), legislature.vermont.gov.
  31. Virginia. Va. Code Ann. § 13.1-727.1 (2025), law.lis.virginia.gov.
  32. Wisconsin. Wis. Stat. § 180.0827 (2025), docs.legis.wisconsin.gov.
  33. Wyoming. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 17-16-830(e) (2025), Justia codes.

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