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Committee advances bill changing business address rules, third-party filer standards
Summary
House Bill 1593 would define contact and principal addresses for business filings, require identity verification for filers, and provide a path to reinstate administratively dissolved entities after five years; sponsors said the change improves state connectivity to small-business governing persons and combats fraud.
House Bill 1593, presented as a Secretary of State office bill, would amend business-entity filing rules to define 'contact address' and 'principal address,' require that a person who files on behalf of another register and verify identity with the Secretary of State, and allow a pathway to reinstate entities administratively dissolved beyond the current five-year window.
Scott Willis of the Secretary of State's office told the committee the bill closes a gap created when third-party filers complete filings for small businesses and then market additional services; the state often lacks a direct contact for the governing person when filings later require action. "Requiring them to not only verify the identity of the folks they're dealing with ... but also to provide us with that connectivity of the contact address, the governing person's name, and a business e-mail" helps the office fight fraudulent filers, Willis said.
Willis gave examples of fraud prevention and said the office had removed hundreds of fraudulent records and blocked many attempts. The bill also creates standards for entities that provide a local address to businesses wishing to keep personal addresses private, including verification and limited disclosure requirements; the transcript notes that contact addresses would not be part of the public record under the proposal.
Senators questioned the mechanics of restoring dissolved entities after five years and the risk that a name might be claimed by another filer during the interim; Willis said the office's systems check for name availability during reinstatement and that safeguards exist but acknowledged operational details would be important in final drafting.
The committee voted to advance the bill by unanimous voice/roll-call vote, 10–0.
