CHAPTER 101
RELATING TO STATE BANK COMMISSIONER
A BILL TO AMEND TITLE 5, CHAPTER 1, DELAWARE CODE, 1953, RELATING TO THE STATE BANK COMMISSIONER BY PROVIDING THAT THE TRUSTEES OF CERTAIN OIL ROYALTY AND SIMILAR TRUSTS SHALL BE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE STATE BANK COMMISSIONER; PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT OF FEES TO THE STATE BANK COMMISSIONER FOR EXAMINATION; AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO REPORT AND SUBMIT TO EXAMINATION.
WHEREAS certain regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, pursuant to the provisions of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, require that trust indentures creating and governing oil royalty trusts shall provide that the fiduciary or trustee shall by statute be subject to the supervision of some Federal, State or territorial banking commission, or some body or official having similar supervisory powers; and
WHEREAS it is desirable and in the public interest that fiduciaries or trustees of oil royalty trusts, as herein defined, doing business in the State of Delaware shall be corporations organized under Delaware law and shall be under the supervision of and subject to examination by the State Bank Commissioner.
NOW THEREFORE be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That Chapter 1, Title 5, Delaware Code, 1953, be and the sanie hereby is amended by adding at the end of said chapter new sections to be known and designated as § 136 and § 137 as follows:
§ 136. No person, association of persons, firm or corporation shall engage in or transact the business of acting as a fiduciary or trustee of oil, gas or mineral leasehold interests or
rights, or of fractional, undivided interests in oil, gas or mineral rights within the State of Delaware, under trust agreements or indentures made and entered into after the effective date of this Act except corporations organized and existing under Delaware law, and engaged in the business of acting as a fiduciary or trustee of oil, gas or mineral leasehold interests or rights, or of fractional, undivided interests in oil, gas or mineral rights within the State of Delaware for at least ten years. All such corporate fiduciaries or trustees shall be under the supervision of the State Bank Commissioner of the State with respect to each such trust and shall, with respect to each such trust, make not less than two reports during each year to the Commissioner, according to the form which shall be prescribed by him, and verified in the manner required by him. All such fiduciaries or trustees shall, in respect to each such trust, be subject to the supervision of and examination by the State Bank Commissioner in the same manner as is provided by Title 5, § 2107 of this Code with respect to small loan businesses. All such fiduciaries or trustees shall pay to the State Bank Commissioner fees for examination as to each such trust of which it is fiduciary or trustee computed on the basis set forth in Title 5, § 127 hereof, as amended, with respect to banks and other financial institutions, and, in the determination of the fee to be paid in respect of each such trust, "assets" shall mean the value of the corpus of each such trust determined by the aggregate face value of certificates or other evidence of beneficial interest issued and outstanding.
§ 137. Any such fiduciary or trustee who shall fail to submit to examination by the State Bank Commissioner or who shall fail to make a report to the State Bank Commissioner, as required by § 136 hereof and the order of the Commissioner, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall forfeit and pay a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100) nor more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) for each such offense. Each day's continuance in business within the State of Delaware as such fiduciary or trustee with respect to any such trust, from and after the date of the failure or refusal of any such fiduciary or trustee to comply with any written demand of the State Bank Commissioner for any report, or that such fiduciary or trustee submit to examination by the State Bank Commissioner on a day certain, as required by § 136
of this Chapter, shall be deemed a separate offense under this section.
The State Bank Commissioner may, if his examination discloses fraud in the operation of the corporation, apply to the Court of Chancery for an order to show cause why the corporation should not be discharged from his supervision.
Section 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.