Wyoming panel backs bill letting Secretary of State expedite business filings, caps fee at $5,000

House Bill 47, which would let the Wyoming Secretary of State establish a rule-governed expedited filing process for certain business documents, advanced out of the Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions committee on a roll-call vote. The bill permits the Secretary to expedite filings under Title 17, Title 34 and Title 40 (chapters 1 and 2) of Wyoming law and allows a maximum fee of $5,000 for the service.

The bill’s sponsor described it as a targeted fix after the committee’s interim work. Representative Singh told the committee, “we appropriated an additional $93,179 from the general fund to the Secretary of State for an additional FTE for this express purpose.” The committee discussion focused on two main trade-offs: ensuring firms can obtain date‑certain filings for mergers, acquisitions and other transactions, and limiting administrative burden on a business division that has seen dramatic recent growth.

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray told the committee the bill would “ensure necessary sideboards to expedite service where appropriate while ensuring that many of the offices regular statutory filing deadlines of 15 days remain operable.” Gray said expedited processing will be accomplished through rulemaking that sets tiers and fees. He warned the committee the office needs additional staff to perform human review for expedited requests: “Expediting business filings no matter the volume will inevitably lead to increased burden as it will require human intervention to expedite the processing of filings by a trained staff member in our office.”

Business Director Colin Crossman described the common use case: “The primary purpose of this is to allow for, if an entity has a outside of Wyoming regulator that needs to have a document on file, on a date certain and needs to see it in our record. Those are the situations where this is likely to be used primarily. That's M and As.” Crossman and others explained that although a document can be stamped as received, the office’s statutory 15‑day review period remains the official time stamp that determines legal priority; the bill includes language to prevent expedited payment from changing legal priority.

Committee members questioned the $5,000 statutory maximum and compared proposed fees to other states. Crossman and the secretary described a tiered fee system by analogy to Delaware — for example, higher fees for same‑day or one‑hour service and lower fees for multi‑day service — and said the $5,000 cap allows future rule adjustments. The Secretary’s office provided statistics showing rapid growth in filings and revenue: filings rose to about 675,000 in fiscal year 2024 from 590,000 in fiscal year 2023 (roughly a 14% increase), and business division revenue grew to about $50 million in FY2024 from $42 million in FY2023.

The committee also discussed the House amendment that adds one FTE to the Secretary of State’s office to handle expected additional workload; Representative Singh described the House appropriation and the committee debated whether the statutory section adding the FTE should remain if a position is added through the budget process. The Secretary’s office said the House amendment was intended to cover a senior-level position (a BACA‑08 level employee) and related costs for benefits and equipment for the remainder of the biennium.

The committee took the bill to a roll-call vote after hearing no public testimony and a brief discussion. The motion to approve the engrossed bill passed by voice/roll call with five ayes and the measure will be referred to appropriations for budget consideration.

The committee emphasized that ordinary filers who can use the online portal will not be required to use expedited service; the process is voluntary and intended for parties with a demonstrable need for a date‑certain public record. The Secretary’s office said the rulemaking will establish tiers, fees, and controls to avoid overwhelming staff.

Votes at a glance House Bill 47 (Secretary of State — expedited filings): Motion moved by Senator Dockstader; second not specified in transcript. Committee roll-call: 5 ayes. Outcome: advanced.

Next steps The committee referred the bill and related staffing to the appropriations process; the statutory expedited‑filing authority would take effect when the bill becomes law and rulemaking establishes fee tiers and procedures.