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Secretary of State outlines regulatory modernization, digitization and planned fee reductions

Committee on General Government Budget · January 21, 2026

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Summary

Secretary of State staff told the committee the office is migrating off an AS/400 filing system, implementing a regulatory modernization platform (Esper), digitizing expired regulations, and planning fee reductions (including halving the online business information filing fee), with a public hearing planned for early February.

A presenter for the Office of the Secretary of State summarized the agency’s FY2026 revised estimate and modernization efforts, telling the committee the office is fee funded and is continuing a multi‑year move to digital services. The office’s revised estimate for FY2026 was described as about $10.7 million in all funds and the presenter highlighted the regulation modernization software (Esper) and a plan to digitize expired regulations.

Assistant Secretary of State Jennifer Cook described progress migrating off an older AS/400 system and said the agency is increasing the share of filings handled online for business formation and information reports. Cook said the office undertook a comprehensive fee review and proposed cutting the agency portion of the online business information filing fee by half, reducing the fee fund balance by about $900,000 annually. "Esper is just the name of the company who is the vendor for our modernization project," Cook said, describing Esper as the vendor for the centralized electronic regulation filing and approval system.

Staff also discussed HAVA federal funding and the state's matching requirement (the democracy fund) and said the office has requested state matching deposits for new federal HAVA awards. The agency offered to follow up on specifics about legal approvals and historic records where committee members asked for additional detail.

No committee votes were taken on the Secretary of State items in this session; staff said the agency would return with further details as needed and that a public hearing on fee changes is scheduled in the coming weeks.