§ 156.515 CO–OP standards.

(a) General. A CO–OP must satisfy the standards in this section in addition to all other statutory, regulatory, or other requirements.

(b) Governance requirements. A CO–OP must meet the following governance requirements:

(1) Member control. A CO–OP must implement policies and procedures to foster and ensure member control of the organization. Accordingly, a CO–OP must meet the following requirements:

(i) The CO–OP must be governed by an operational board with a majority of directors elected by a majority vote of a quorum of the CO–OP's members that are age 18 or older;

(ii) All members age 18 or older must be eligible to vote for each of the directors on the organization's operational board subject to a vote of the members under paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section;

(iii) Each member age 18 or older must have one vote in each election for each director subject to a vote of the members under paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section in that election;

(iv) The first elected directors of the organization's operational board must be elected no later than one year after the effective date on which the organization provides coverage to its first member; the entire operational board must be elected or in place, and in full compliance with paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section, no later than two years after the same date;