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Secretary of State cites record business growth, explains large proprietary fund balance and fee waivers
Summary
The Secretary of State’s chief deputy told the Section A Subcommittee the office is not requesting new appropriations, reported record business filings, described a large proprietary net position and cash balance used to cover cyclical costs, and confirmed several fee waivers including the 2025 annual report fee.
The Secretary of State’s office told the Section A Subcommittee on Appropriations on Wednesday that it is not seeking change packages for the 2027 biennium and outlined why its proprietary fund balance has grown.
Angela Nunn, chief deputy to Secretary Kristy Jacobson, said the office saw record new-business filings in 2024 — “over 60,000 new businesses” — and that the office has used operational efficiencies and fee reductions to lower costs for filers. She also said the office’s 2025 annual-report filing fees were waived and reiterated the agency is considering additional fee-waiver proposals for the coming biennium.
Budget staff briefed the committee that the Secretary of State’s non-budgeted proprietary appropriations for the 2027 biennium are about $598,000 (4.6 percent) higher than the fiscal 2025 base, driven by statewide present-law adjustments. Staff noted the 2025 appropriation was roughly $997,000 (13.4 percent) lower than 2024, primarily because a one-time systems-maintenance authority in the 2024 appropriation was not requested again.
Committee members pressed the agency on two related topics: a temporary staff hire who previously served in the legislature, and why the office maintains a large fund balance. On the temporary hire, Nunn said the position is temporary staff to assist during the legislative session and that the role includes reviewing legislation and meeting with stakeholders. Senator Ellsworth asked whether the person was lobbying; Nunn responded the staff member performs temporary duties and the office agreed to provide job description and pay details to the committee.
On the fund balance, Brandy Pearson, the agency’s chief fiscal officer, explained the difference between net position and cash and why the office carries a large cash balance. “Although it shows that our net position is at 13,000,000, we actually only have a cash balance of 10,200,000,” Pearson said, and added that the office’s revenue cycles are concentrated around annual-report season. She told the committee the office maintains roughly seven months of cash to ensure it can pay bills before seasonal revenue arrives.
Nunn and staff also described the office’s revenue sources beyond annual reports: new-business filing fees (which have been reduced but continue to generate revenue given high filing volume), filing fees for administrative-rule notices, notary registration fees and candidate filing fees. Staff and the agency noted some filing fees have been waived in recent years and the agency is reviewing similar waivers for the next biennium.
No formal votes were taken. Legislators requested a fund-balance trend history, the temporary hire’s job description and pay information, and additional detail on how proprietary rates and fee waivers will be handled for fiscal 2026–27.
