The California Secretary of State’s Office has been recognized by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) for reducing barriers to doing business in the state through its use of technology.
The Secretary of State’s Office digitized how businesses file and search for important documents, allowing 75,000 limited liability companies to file Statements of Information online since the program, the Digital Business Initiative, went online in June.
“Our new LLC Statement of Information e-file tool is a major step in modernizing California’s business filing process,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement. “Rather than spend time in line at our office or waiting for the mail, tens of thousands of businesses are now saving time with streamlined online filing. We are confident that these numbers will continue to grow as the public moves from paper-based filing to the convenience and speed of online filing.”
Companies can file LLC Statements of Information online at bizfile California, and the program also includes an enhanced California Business Search tool. Because the state now has more than 10.6 million images of documents related to corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships, requests for copies of business records have decreased 62 percent over the past three months compared with the same period last year.
The Secretary of State’s office is also using a ThinkSmart tool, provided through the Department of Technology in June, to further streamline business operations around the Articles of Organization for limited-liability companies.
“The Secretary of State, via the ThinkSmart tool, is developing a solution to improve customer service for those doing business in California by moving away from a paper-based system (where documents are mailed or filed in person) to one that allows online submission of LLC formation documents, such as Articles of Organization,” Press Secretary Sam Mahood wrote to Techwire.
The state’s Breaking Barriers to Doing Business program recognizes state efforts to make it easier to do business in California.
