BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 113
Author: Assembly Budget Committee
Amended: 4/22/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUDGET & FISCAL REVIEW COMMITTEE : 10-1, 4/18/13
AYES: Leno, Beall, Block, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Jackson,
Monning, Price, Roth, Wright
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson, Berryhill, Nielsen, Wolk, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-1, 3/18/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Budget Act of 2012
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill appropriates $1.6 million in Business Fees
Funds to reduce processing times of business related filings and
to address the backlog of over 122,000 business related filings
currently pending at the Secretary of State's office.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to
utilize the Business Fees Fund to perform business-related
functions for the state. The Secretary of State is responsible
for the management of over 150 different types of filings of
business entities and receives over one million filings
annually. The majority of the filings submitted to the
Secretary of State are recorded on index cards. The Business
Programs Division, which is responsible for the management of
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the filings, is comprised of three sections: the Business
Entities Section, Notary Public/Special Filings Section, and the
Uniform Commercial Code/Statement of Information section.
This bill:
1. Appropriates $1.6 million to the Secretary of State in order
to address the backlog associated with the processing of
business filings.
2. Requires the Secretary of State report to the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee on the 30th day of each month
regarding the Secretary of State's progress on reducing the
processing time for business filings.
Comments
Currently, the Secretary of State utilizes an antiquated filing
process that is paper and labor intensive. The Secretary of
State estimates that the processing time for Business Entities
and Statements of Information ranges from 55 to 53 days, and, as
of March 2013, the total number of documents backlogged is
123,501. The Secretary of State estimates that, if the funds
are appropriated, the business filings processing times will be
reduced to an average of 5-10 days by the end of November 2013.
According to the spending plan submitted by the Secretary of
State, the Business Programs Division will begin hiring
immediately upon receipt of the funds and will identify overtime
opportunities for staff to begin working on the backlog.
On March 14, 2013, the Assembly amended the 2012 Budget Act to
appropriate an additional $2 million to the Secretary of State
in order to address the backlog of business filings. However,
the spending plan submitted by the Secretary of State
acknowledged that, due to time constraints, only $1.6 million
was needed in the short term to reduce the backlog.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, this
bill appropriates $1.6 million from the Business Fees Fund,
which supports the Business Programs Division within the
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Secretary of State's Office. According to the Secretary of
State's Office, the cost of processing additional filings will
be offset by the additional revenue received from the fees paid
with the filings. In accordance with Government Code Section
12176, unspent fees in excess of $1.0 million are transferred to
the General Fund.
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/23/13)
California Business Roundtable
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
Orange County Business Council
Personal Insurance Federation of California
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-1, 3/18/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan,
Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle,
Daly, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Hueso, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina,
Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Stone, Torres, Wagner, Weber,
Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Ch�vez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonta, Dickinson, Linder, Lowenthal,
Nestande, Skinner, Ting, Waldron
JJA:d 4/23/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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