Secretary of State Finalizes Rule

December 14, 2017

The Administrative Rules Review Committee gave the go-ahead Tuesday to the Secretary of State’s business fee increase rule. After diligent work by ABI, the rule was modified from its original version to ensure the fee increases only go toward funding business technology upgrades, not other functions of the Secretary of State like elections. Additionally, the fee increases are now set to expire in 2022. At the same time, statutory language passed last session requires the technology fund, into which the new fees will flow, to sunset.

The up to $2 million per year collected in new fees will go to upgrade IT business interfaces and systems, as well as improve services to businesses such as quicker processing of business filings.

The fee increases, which go into effect Jan. 1, 2018, are as follows:

  • UCC filing fee for one- to two-page paper filing (including fax) increases from $10 to $20
  • Fee for filing and indexing a biennial report in a paper format increases from $45 to $60
  • Fee for electronic filing through the Secretary of State website increases from $30 to $45
  • Annual fee for maintaining accounts for payment of services increases from $25 to $100

An additional rule will be filed by the Secretary of State to include the restrictions on the purpose and timeline for the funds that was omitted for account fee increases in the rule that was just filed.