CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.House Bill 0399e1
HB 399, First Engrossed
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to coordinated business
3 reporting; providing legislative findings and
4 intent; creating the "Florida Business
5 Coordination Act"; providing definitions;
6 requiring the Department of State to create a
7 master business index for certain purposes;
8 designating the Secretary of State as the
9 custodian of the index; providing duties of the
10 department; requiring the Secretary of State to
11 conduct a study and develop legislation for
12 certain purposes; providing an effective date.
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14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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16 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent.--
17 (1) The Legislature finds that:
18 (a) As documented by the Governor's Single Business
19 Identifier Interagency Task Force, state government places a
20 heavy burden on the business community of this state through
21 the requirement to obtain and maintain numerous licenses,
22 permits, and registrations.
23 (b) While such requirements are necessary to ensure
24 the public safety and welfare, present methods for the
25 business community to meet such obligations, as prescribed by
26 law and administered and enforced by state agencies, are
27 cumbersome and place an undue hardship on business entities in
28 this state.
29 (c) The potential exists for the state to more easily
30 identify and eliminate duplicative or outdated licensing
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HB 399, First Engrossed
1 requirements and thereby reduce its cost of operation without
2 jeopardizing the public safety or welfare.
3 (2) It is the intent of this act to establish a master
4 business index within the Department of State and to
5 facilitate a reporting mechanism which consolidates and
6 coordinates business entity licensing and reporting
7 requirements whenever possible.
8 Section 2. Short title.--This act may be cited as the
9 "Florida Business Coordination Act."
10 Section 3. Definitions.--As used in this act:
11 (1) "Business entity" means any form of corporation,
12 partnership, association, cooperative, joint venture, business
13 trust, or sole proprietorship that conducts business in this
14 state.
15 (2) "Department" means the Department of State.
16 (3) "Master business index" means that database
17 maintained by the department which indexes all business entity
18 records maintained by any state government agency.
19 (4) "Single business identifier" means the unique
20 record number assigned to a business entity by the department
21 in compliance with the provisions of this act.
22 (5) "State agency" means any state government agency,
23 department, or commission which has jurisdiction over business
24 entities.
25 Section 4. Single business identifier.--
26 (1) The department shall create a master business
27 index, using as an initial base the commercial regulation and
28 registration program databases the department currently
29 maintains. Each business entity shall be assigned a unique
30 single business identifier for interagency use.
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HB 399, First Engrossed
1 (2) The department is authorized to take the actions
2 it deems necessary to integrate all non-business entity or
3 commercial registrations it maintains into the Master Business
4 Index such that all registrations maintained for a business
5 entity are reflected in the index in a consolidated manner.
6 (3) The department is authorized to take the actions
7 it deems practical to consolidate its various renewal or
8 annual mailings, to include the altering of specified mailing
9 dates and filing deadlines.
10 Section 5. Custodian.--The Secretary of State is
11 hereby designated the custodian of the Master Business Index.
12 Section 6. (1) The Secretary of State shall conduct a
13 study of the technical feasibility of implementing a uniform
14 business report for use throughout selected state agencies in
15 the consolidated licensing, registration or renewal of
16 business entity filings in this state. Additionally, the study
17 shall address the technical feasibility of each state agency
18 that registers or licenses business entities and maintains
19 license records on such entities to:
20 (a) Include the Single Business Identifier, assigned
21 by the Department of State and maintained in the Master
22 Business Index, in its records such that registration or
23 license information may be directly retrieved by use of the
24 Single Business Identifier number.
25 (b) Coordinate its data records creation with the
26 Department of State so as to obtain a Single Business
27 Identifier for all records it maintains or creates.
28 (2) Based on the study, the Secretary of State shall
29 develop legislative proposals for submission prior to the 1998
30 Regular Legislative Session, which implement the intent of
31 this act.
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HB 399, First Engrossed
1 Section 7. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
2 law.
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