Heller wants full service LV office

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Opening a full service Las Vegas office to handle commercial business is one of the goals of Secretary of State Dean Heller.

Heller and his deputy, Scott Anderson, told a legislative subcommittee Monday the office needs updated computer equipment, more staff and more training to keep up with the growth of business.

Anderson said last year 48,000 new businesses filed incorporation papers in Nevada and the state has surpassed Michigan as the ninth highest in the nation for new corporations.

"With Las Vegas being a populous area as it is and with the number of filings that come through the service providers in the Las Vegas area, there is a need for us to have a full-service office" in Southern Nevada, Anderson said.

"Right now, the Las Vegas office can only process expedited filings," he said of the filings in which customers pay extra fees to have the paperwork processed within a 24-hour period.

The Las Vegas office cannot provide certified copies, which has to be done in Carson City.

"If you want certain merger document filed, you have to do that in Carson City. If you want a UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) financial statement filed, you have to do that in Carson City," Anderson said.

"The hope is that in the not-to-distant future, we will be able to expand that office to provide those services to those customers there," he said.

The subcommittee, headed by Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, is examining ways to improve conditions to attract business to Nevada.

Heller said the use of the Internet "makes us more competitive than other secretaries of state." In the last month, the website received 1.5 million hits. The office, he said, is trying to get away from the paper base and move more into the electronic age.

His office, Heller said, has been able to stay on "the cutting edge," with the Legislature authorizing digital signatures on documents.

To make some of the advances, there may have to be an increase in fees. Some fees, Anderson said, have not been raised since 1991.

"However, we need to be cautious and not shoot ourselves in the foot.

"A small increase may be acceptable," said Anderson, who is deputy in charge of commercial filings that include corporations, business trusts, uniform commercial code and other items.

John Fowler, a Reno attorney whose practice specializes in business matters, stressed that luring big deals to Nevada will increase other business. And he said fees could be increased. He said he doesn't think big firms such as General Motors will object to a boost in the $85-a-year fee.

"There is no reason to increase the mom and pops," he said referring to small corporations. But he said a substantial increase to the big companies would not "pose a great problem."

Fowler, who has helped write some of the corporate laws for the state, said business attorneys would like to see expedited filings so the process could be completed in one day. He said the companies would be willing to pay $500 for the service.

The state office, he said, should open at 6 a.m. so it would be timed to financial transactions in New York. It would allow the documents to be processed and the transfer of money to take place on the same day a deal is made, he said. Access to all documents on the Internet "would be a marvelous advance," he added.

Fowler praised the office for the advances it has made, which show that more revenue is being collected per employee than in the past.