0890 Secretary of State
Program Descriptions

10 - FILINGS AND REGISTRATIONS PROGRAM

The Business Programs Division is the first stop for anyone wanting to do business in California. The California Business Portal provides online resources and services to businesses, connecting people with electronic versions of important documents and handbooks, searchable lists of registered businesses, a step-by-step guide to starting a business, and assistance for international businesses wanting to operate in California.

The Business Entities Section files articles of incorporation, foreign qualifications, and related documents to ensure that corporations and other business entities are properly formed, merged, amended, and dissolved in compliance with California law.

The Uniform Commercial Code Section provides for the filing of documents that allow lending institutions to verify the existence of collateral prior to making loans and to establish a priority scheme for property repossession in case of debtor default or bankruptcy.

The Notary Public and Special Filings Section appoints and commissions eligible notaries public. A notary public is a public official who performs services to the legal, business, financial and real estate communities by certifying or witnessing signatures on official documents. Special Filings include trademarks and service marks as well as bonds that certain business entities are required to file, joint power agreements, city and county charters and claims for successor-in-interest. This Section also has disciplinary functions with regard to notaries public and immigration consultants.

The Safe at Home Program provides public records address protection, name change confidentiality, and confidential voter registration for more than 2,000 survivors of domestic violence and stalking and their family members, and providers, employees, volunteers, and patients of reproductive health care facilities.

The Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD) Registry maintains AHCDs, which allow a person to indicate to their medical treatment preferences if they cannot speak or make decisions for themselves. The AHCD also may designate someone else to make decisions regarding medical treatment. AHCDs and related information can be provided upon request to the registrant's health care provider, public guardian or legal representative.

The Domestic Partners Registry registers same-sex couples regardless of the age of the partners, and opposite-sex couples in which one partner is at least 62 years old, as domestic partners in California when they file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership.

The Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund provides restitution to victims of corporate fraud who are unable to collect through other means on a judgment against a corporation for corporate fraud.

20 - ELECTIONS

The Secretary of State, as California's chief elections officer, has broad responsibility to administer the election process. This program oversees the modernization of voting equipment and the improvement of current electoral database systems, enhancing the voting processes, providing accessibility to voters, working to increase people's knowledge of the electoral system, and establishing a procedure to allow voters to file and have complaints resolved about voting-related issues.

This program includes the campaign and lobbying registration and disclosure provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974. Under this law, the Office registers all levels of campaign committees, and reviews for compliance with statutory requirements all state-level campaign recipient, major donor, slate mailer, political party, and independent expenditure committees. The program also registers lobbyists, lobbying firms and lobbyist employers, reviews the periodic financial disclosure reports filed by lobbying entities, and publishes a Lobbying Directory both on paper and on the Internet. This program also supports the electronic filing requirements of the Political Reform Act and posts relevant registration and disclosure information to the Office's web site so voters can track where campaign money is raised and spent and what lobbying activity is occurring in state government. A searchable database of campaign and lobbying financial activity is also provided through the web site.

30 - ARCHIVES

The California State Archives acquires, indexes, preserves, and provides reference access to irreplaceable historic materials from the three branches of state government. The Archives acquires records that are legally required to be placed there, that possess legal, administrative or evidentiary value, or that have long-term historical significance. Materials of durable value are transferred to the Archives for long-term preservation.

50 - ADMINISTRATION AND TECHNOLOGY

This program develops and manages overall departmental policy. It serves as the liaison to other state agencies, the Legislature, the federal government, and other states' Secretaries of State. This program responds to constituent correspondence and requests from the public and advocates in the Legislature, administers the Secretary's role as ex officio member of the World Trade Commission and as a member of the National Association of Secretaries of State, in the management of task forces and advisory committees, in the implementation of new federal and state statutory requirements, and coordinates and disseminates information about the Office and its initiatives to the public. It also provides the Office with the necessary personnel, general administrative, budgeting, fiscal services, and information technology expertise to plan, develop, implement, and operate innovative and effective business and information systems solutions.