Senate Corporations Committee advances Senate File 82 to require registered agents to retain owner information

The Senate Corporations Committee voted to advance Senate File 82, a bill that would require commercial registered agents to maintain names and addresses for an entity’s owners, including partners, members and shareholders, subject to specified exemptions.

Senator Crago, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure aims to create a stronger “know your customer” standard for commercial registered agents after repeated instances of fraudulent or misleading corporate filings concentrated in Sheridan and Fremont counties. “Under our current statute, a registered agent does not have to technically know who owns the company. They have to have a contact,” Crago said, arguing that the low threshold has enabled shell companies to be used for criminal activity.

Why it matters: Supporters said the change would give the Secretary of State’s office and law enforcement better access to beneficial-ownership information when investigating suspected fraud. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray told the committee the information would not be public under state law but could be audited by his office and provided to law enforcement. “This would be a policy shift … to require registered agents to keep beneficial ownership information,” Gray said, adding the office has already used existing statutes and administrative processes to dissolve fraudulent entities and has worked with federal partners in prior cases.

Details and debate: The bill requires registered agents to keep on file the names and addresses of each domestic entity’s owners, with carve-outs for entities with more than 100 owners, entities that maintain a fixed in-state business location, and certain blockchain-related filers. Gray and other witnesses emphasized implementation timing and administrative capacity; Gray estimated filings could decline materially depending on timing, suggesting a potential 35–40% reduction in filings but cautioning that not all filers who leave would be bad actors.

Local officials described the practical consequences. Fremont County Assessor Cara Berg described sending business personal property notices to new filings and frequently finding that the listed corporate address did not correspond to any local operator. To help affected residents, Berg said her office uses a notarized affidavit process to document misuse and assist in dissolving fraudulent filings. “We started sending out…800 in one month,” she said, describing a heavy workload and one dedicated staff member handling the issue.

Some commercial registered agents raised privacy and logistical concerns. Scott Meyer, who operates as a registered agent, said many of his clients are known to him and that additional recordkeeping would not be burdensome for some agents but raises privacy questions for others. He recommended interim study to refine thresholds and implementation details.

Vote and next steps: After brief committee discussion about the numeric threshold for the exemption, the committee held a roll-call vote and the clerk reported five ayes; the motion carried to advance the measure. The committee noted Senator Craigle would carry the bill on the floor.

The committee also indicated interest in interim work to study implementation details and cross-agency coordination; no floor date was announced in committee testimony.