Posted on: Wednesday, June 16, 2004
New law cuts fee to register company
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Businesses will pay less for registering their companies and related services under a bill signed into law by Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday.
Senate Bill 1318, now Act 116, reduces most business registration fees by 50 percent. For instance, the fee for filing articles of merger drops from $100 to $50; for articles of dissolution, down from $20 to $10. Not all fees are going down, however. Filing articles of incorporation, for example, stays at $50.
The bill meets a Lingle campaign promise to reduce the cost of doing business in the state and was one of eight "pro-business" measures signed into law yesterday.
The cut in fees is also largely in response to a growing surplus in what's known as the Compliance Resolution Fund, which pays for the operations of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated Legislature this past session approved a bill that would have eliminated the fund and brought both the fees collected and the DCCA's finances back into the state general fund, a move that would have given the general fund a one-time $31 million cash infusion. But the Republican governor vetoed the bill, pointing out that the agency was already reducing its fees.
The bills are "building blocks," Lingle said, in establishing the state as "a good place to do business, a fair place to invest."
The governor also took the opportunity to tell business leaders that she intends to reintroduce a workers' compensation reform package next year after such a plan was rejected by lawmakers this past session. "We will come back again next year," Lingle said, urging business leaders to help her lobby lawmakers to approve passage of workers' compensation reform bills.
The governor also signed Senate Bill 2906, which reduces the charge for obtaining a Certificate of Good Standing from $25 to $5. The administration's original bill called for waiving the fee entirely. The certificate formally demonstrates that a business's state filings are current.
Other bills signed by Lingle yesterday:
• House Bill 2408, which allows qualified trade associations to negotiate with health insurers for health insurance coverage. • Senate Bill 2358, which establishes a procedure for residential property owners and contractors to resolve construction defect claims without going to court. • Senate Bill 2882, which allows foreign insurers to become licensed in Hawai'i, and to do so in other states so long as their U.S. base is in Hawai'i. • Senate Bill 2908, which shores up business registration laws and, among other things, allows shareholders of companies to act by less than unanimous consent.
• House Bill 2411, which updates and brings the state's insurance laws into line with federal regulations, and exempts health insurance policies for the self-employed from mandatory coverage requirements.
• House Bill 851, which repeals the "pay to play" provision that requires a party to pay assessed taxes before appealing a case in the Tax Appeal Court.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
