Committee approves modest fee increases for Secretary of State business services

Representative Mena presented HB 908 as a departmental bill from the Secretary of State’s office to adjust self-generated fees for commercial filings. Catherine Newsom, first assistant secretary of state, said the office has not comprehensively adjusted these fees since 2013 and that the proposed increases would still leave Louisiana below the Southeastern average for common filing types.

Amanda Baker, commercial administrator, summarized workload and customer-service expectations: about 400 walk-ins per month on average, over 12,000 filings per week and roughly 10,000 calls monthly; in-house IT supports the GoBiz portal and the office handles business registrations and expedited processing.

Senators asked whether the office outsources portal services and whether increases would be shared with third parties; officials said the GoBiz portal and IT are managed in-house and that fee revenue is dedicated to the Secretary of State’s operations.

The committee moved and reported the bill favorable by voice vote with no objections. Members asked the department to be mindful of frequency of fee adjustments going forward and to keep the committee informed.