In this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) “Acknowledged” means that an instrument is either of the following:

(1) Formally acknowledged as provided in Article 3 (commencing with Section 1180) of Chapter 4 of Title 4 of Part 4 of Division 2 of the Civil Code.

(2) Executed to include substantially the following wording preceding the signature: “It is hereby declared that I am the person who executed this instrument, which execution is my act and deed. Any certificate of acknowledgment taken without this state before a notary public or a judge or clerk of a court of record having an official seal need not be further authenticated.”

(b) “Certificate of limited partnership” means the certificate required by Section 15902.01. The term includes the certificate as amended or restated.

(c) “Contribution,” except in the phrase “right of contribution,” means any benefit provided by a person to a limited partnership in order to become a partner or in the person’s capacity as a partner.

(d) “Debtor in bankruptcy” means a person that is the subject of either of the following:

(1) An order for relief under Title 11 of the United States Code or a comparable order under a successor statute of general application.

(2) A comparable order under federal, state, or foreign law governing insolvency.

(e) “Designated office” means either of the following:

(1) With respect to a limited partnership, the office that the limited partnership is required to designate and maintain under Section 15901.14.

(2) With respect to a foreign limited partnership, its principal office.

(f) “Distribution” means a transfer of money or other property from a limited partnership to a partner in the partner’s capacity as a partner or to a transferee on account of a transferable interest owned by the transferee.

(g) “Domestic corporation” means a corporation formed under the laws of this state.

(h) “Electronic transmission by the partnership” means a communication that meets both of the following requirements:

(1) It is delivered by any of the following means:

(A) Facsimile transmission or electronic mail when directed to the facsimile number or electronic mail address, respectively, for the recipient on the record with the partnership.

(B) Posting on an electronic message board or other electronic database, that the partnership has designated for the communication, together with a separate notice to the recipient of the posting, which shall be validly delivered upon the later of either the posting or delivery of the separate notice thereof.

(C) Other means of electronic communication.

(2) It is to a recipient that has provided an unrevoked consent to the use of the means of transmission used by the partnership in the electronic transmission.

(i) “Electronic transmission to the partnership” means a communication that meets both of the following requirements:

(1) It is delivered by any of the following means:

(A) Facsimile communication or other electronic mail when directed to the facsimile number or electronic mail address, respectively, that the partnership has provided from time to time to the partners for sending communications to the partnership.

(B) Posting on an electronic message board or electronic database that the partnership has designated for the communication. A transmission shall have been validly delivered upon the posting.

(C) Other means of electronic communication.

(2) It is a communication as to which the partnership has placed in effect reasonable measures to verify that the sender is the partner purporting to send the transmission, either in person or by proxy.

(j) “Foreign limited liability limited partnership” means a foreign limited partnership whose general partners have limited liability for the obligations of the foreign limited partnership.

(k) “Foreign limited partnership” means a partnership formed under the laws of a jurisdiction other than this state and required by those laws to have one or more general partners and one or more limited partners. The term includes a foreign limited liability limited partnership.

(l) “Foreign other business entity” means an other business entity formed under the laws of any state other than this state or under the laws of a foreign country.

(m) “General partner” means:

(1) With respect to a limited partnership, a person to whom either of the following applies:

(A) The person becomes a general partner under Section 15904.01.

(B) The person was a general partner in a limited partnership when the limited partnership became subject to this chapter under subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 15912.06.

(2) With respect to a foreign limited partnership, a person that has rights, powers, and obligations similar to those of a general partner in a limited partnership.

(n) “Interests of all partners” means the aggregate interests of all partners in the current profits derived from business operations of the partnership.

(o) “Interests of limited partners” means the aggregate interests of all limited partners in their respective capacities as limited partners in the current profits derived from business operations of the partnership.

(p) “Limited partner” means:

(1) With respect to a limited partnership, a person to whom either of the following applies:

(A) The person becomes a limited partner under Section 15903.01 or subdivision (h) of 15907.02.

(B) The person was a limited partner in a limited partnership when the limited partnership became subject to this chapter under subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 15912.06.

(2) With respect to a foreign limited partnership, a person that has rights, powers, and obligations similar to those of a limited partner in a limited partnership.

(q) “Limited partnership or domestic limited partnership,” except in the phrases “foreign limited partnership” and “foreign limited liability limited partnership,” means an entity, having one or more general partners and one or more limited partners, which is formed under this chapter by two or more persons or becomes subject to this chapter under Article 11 (commencing with Section 15911.01) or subdivisions (a) or (b) of Section 15912.06.

(r) “Mail” means first-class mail, postage prepaid, unless registered mail is specified. Registered mail includes certified mail.

(s) “Majority in interest of all partners” means more than 50 percent of the interests of all partners.

(t) “Majority in interest of the limited partners” means more than 50 percent of the interests of limited partners.

(u) “Other business entity” means a corporation, general partnership, limited liability company, business trust, real estate investment trust, or an unincorporated association other than a nonprofit association, but excludes a limited partnership.

(v) “Parent” of a limited partnership means any of the following:

(1) A general partner of the limited partnership.

(2) A person possessing, directly or indirectly, the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a general partner of the limited partnership.

(3) A person owning, directly or indirectly, limited partnership interests possessing more than 50 percent of the aggregate voting power of the limited partnership.

(w) “Partner” means a limited partner or general partner.

(x) “Partnership agreement” means the partners’ agreement, whether oral, implied, in a record, or in any combination, concerning the limited partnership. The term includes the agreement as amended.

(y) “Person” means an individual, partnership, limited partnership, trust, estate, association, corporation, limited liability company, or other entity, whether domestic or foreign.

(z) “Person dissociated as a general partner” means a person dissociated as a general partner of a limited partnership.

(aa) “Principal office” means the office where the principal executive office of a limited partnership or foreign limited partnership is located, whether or not the office is located in this state.

(ab) “Proxy” means a written authorization signed by a partner or the partner’s attorney in fact giving another person the power to vote with respect to the interest of that partner. “Signed,” for the purpose of this subdivision, means the placing of the partner’s name on the proxy, whether by manual signature, typewriting, telegraphic transmission, or otherwise, by the partner or the partner’s attorney in fact.

(ac) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(ad) “Required information” means the information that a limited partnership is required to maintain under Section 15901.11.

(ae) “Return of capital” means any distribution to a partner to the extent that the aggregate distributions to that partner do not exceed that partner’s contributions to the partnership.

(af) “Sign” means either of the following:

(1) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol with the present intent to authenticate a record.

(2) To attach or logically associate an electronic symbol, sound, or process to or with a record with the present intent to authenticate the record.

(ag) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(ah) “Time a notice is given or sent,” unless otherwise expressly provided, means any of the following:

(1) The time a written notice to a partner or the limited partnership is deposited in the United States mail.

(2) The time any other written notice is personally delivered to the recipient, is delivered to a common carrier for transmission, or is actually transmitted by the person giving the notice by electronic means to the recipient.

(3) The time any oral notice is communicated, in person or by telephone or wireless, to the recipient or to a person at the office of the recipient who the person giving the notice has reason to believe will promptly communicate it to the recipient.

(ai) (1) “Transact intrastate business” means, for purposes of registration, entering into repeated and successive transactions of business in this state, other than interstate or foreign commerce.

(2) A foreign limited partnership shall not be considered to be transacting intrastate business within the meaning of paragraph (1) solely because of its status as one or more of the following:

(A) A shareholder of a foreign corporation transacting intrastate business.

(B) A shareholder of a domestic corporation.

(C) A limited partner of a foreign limited partnership transacting intrastate business.

(D) A limited partner of a domestic limited partnership.

(E) A member or manager of a foreign limited liability company transacting intrastate business.

(F) A member or manager of a domestic limited liability company.

(3) Without excluding other activities that may not constitute transacting intrastate business, a foreign limited partnership shall not be considered to be transacting intrastate business within the meaning of paragraph (1) solely by reason of carrying on in this state one or more of the following activities:

(A) Maintaining or defending any action or suit or any administrative or arbitration proceeding, or effecting the settlement thereof or the settlement of claims and disputes.

(B) Holding meetings of its partners or carrying on other activities concerning its internal affairs.

(C) Maintaining bank accounts.

(D) Maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange, and registration of its securities or depositories with relation to its securities.

(E) Effecting sales through independent contractors.

(F) Soliciting or procuring orders, whether by mail or through employees or agents or otherwise, where the orders require acceptance without this state before becoming binding contracts.

(G) Creating or acquiring evidences of debt or mortgages, liens, or security interests on real or personal property.

(H) Securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages and security interests in property securing the debts.

(I) Conducting an isolated transaction completed within a period of 180 days and not in the course of a number of repeated transactions of like nature.

(J) Transacting business in interstate commerce.

(4) A person shall not be deemed to be transacting intrastate business in this state within the meaning of paragraph (1) solely because of the person’s status as a limited partner of a domestic limited partnership or a foreign limited partnership registered to transact intrastate business in this state.

This definition shall not apply in determining the contacts or activities that may subject a foreign limited partnership to service of process, taxation, jurisdiction, or other regulation under any other law of this state.

(aj) “Transfer” includes an assignment, conveyance, deed, bill of sale, lease, mortgage, creation of a security interest or encumbrance, gift, and transfer by operation of law.

(ak) “Transferable interest” means a partner’s right to receive distributions.

(al) “Transferee” means a person to which all or part of a transferable interest has been transferred, whether or not the transferor is a partner.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 130, Sec. 40. Effective January 1, 2008.)