Reformed Secretary of State’s Office for Improved Customer Service The Secretary of State’s office is most likely the first government institution that a new business startup will come in contact with. That experience should be friendly, simple and efficient. As a business owner and legislator I often heard about the delays and frustration in Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings and with business filings in the Secretary of State’s office which are of paramount importance to the lending industry and business owners. However, after entering office on January 2nd we discovered that things were much worse than we had anticipated in the business division. j
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UCC filings were 75 days out when I took office. State law says they must be filed within 2 days. It took 9 months, through various means of staff working overtime and prioritizing that we are proud to say UCC filings are now current. With the support of the Governor’s office and Legislature, we have a contract with a company that has done extensive work with
neighboring states and will ensure that UCC filings will remain current by allowing users to enter data online and our office will approve their filing within forty-eight hours. j
Business filings and annual reports were 5 weeks out when I took office in January. State law says they must be processed within 5 days. We are proposing a similar web based solution that will allow users to enter their data and allow our office to approve within forty-eight hours which is what today’s business environment expects.
The offices of state government that private enterprises rely on to conduct business must be responsive. By filing documents in a timely manner, being responsive and running the office efficiently we have generated $1.5 million more dollars to the state general fund beyond previous budget projections of $6 million to end the year at $7.5 million in revenue.
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
