Committee hears technical cleanup to corporate and nonprofit filings

The committee considered House Bill 2,248, described by staff as a technical cleanup affecting corporate and nonprofit filings handled by the Secretary of State.

Tim Ford (staff) explained the bill clarifies provisions across trademark registration, international-student-exchange placement organizations, apostille certification, foreign-entity registration and required reports filed within 120 days of entity formation. He said fee language is restored to reflect prior statutory text and that the annual license fee split (with $50 to the general fund and the remainder to the Secretary of State's revolving fund) is affirmed.

Representative Osman Salahuddin (prime sponsor) said the bill "makes no policy changes, doesn't create new fees" and restores language removed in 2015 to align statutes with current administrative practice. Constance Parbin, public and government affairs administrator in the Corporations and Charities division, testified the office supports the bill and is available to answer technical questions.

A manufactured-home community stakeholder, Stacy Valenzuela, asked about verifying LLC/DBA filings and whether the application process could better flag related entities and ownership to prevent obfuscated ownership structures; she urged oversight improvements such as cross-referencing owner names and DBAs and better education for applicants.

The committee concluded the public hearing on HB 2,248 and moved the bill forward for member consideration.