Secretary of State Beth Chapman has "made good" on one of her campaign promises to make the processes of the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office more efficient and effective for Alabama businesses. Secretary Chapman established a UCC Reform Advisory Board, with representatives from various agricultural, financial, and insurance institutions that investigated procedures of the Uniform Commercial Code Division of the Secretary of State’s Office.
"This committee of farmers, bankers, cattlemen, business men and women has epitomized how our government should operate," Chapman said. "They saw a problem and came together to offer a reasonable solution. It proves the power of our citizens and gives them the voice they deserve in the day-to-day operations of their government."
The Board recommended changes that will be favorable to those UCC users who are currently working with 21st century technology at no additional cost to the taxpayers. And for those UCC users who prefer the traditional paper filing transaction, that method is still available as well.
Some benefits of the new Electronic UCC Filing System are:
- The increased cost to UCC users for the new electronic transaction is less than $10 more per transaction per customer, and no additional cost to the state.
- The new electronic filing process saves businesses at least one week in filing time.
- Businesses (including farm services providers), may enter the information from their offices, making copies available immediately and providing them with complete control of their processing.
- Farmers should no longer have to wait for paperwork to be sent to Montgomery to make essential purchases of cattle, seed, or equipment.
- For those who are not comfortable with computer processing, paper filing is still a viable way to do business at no additional charge to the customer or the state.
Secretary of State Chapman states that by implementing this new filing system, "We are not forcing anyone to change the way they do business, we are simply providing opportunities to speed up business processes at no additional cost to the taxpayers of the State of Alabama."