Ever wanted to give Florida government the business over the hassels it gives you as a business owner?
Well, state government would like to give business the business -- in a good way, of course.
After years of taking steps to streamline state government, to make it easier for a business to meet a myriad of state requirements, things might actually become streamlined soon -- if the folks who monitor state government accountability can get the full cooperation of the government agencies involved.
To start a new business in Florida, you have to register the business at the Division of Corporations within the Department of State. If you sell goods and services that are taxed, you have to get a tax certificate at the General Tax Administration office within the Department of Revenue. Then you have to obtain a business or professional licensefrom the Professional Regulation Program Office within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Depending on what type of business you have, you may also have to stop by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of Financial Service, the Department of Health, and the Department of Environmental Protection.
The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability (OPPAGA) wants to change that.
Florida has made limited progress to streamline business processes, said OPPAGA's Larry Novey, who presented the plan to the Legislature's Economic Development Policy Committee on Wednesday.
Novey pointed to six other states that have created Web sites allowing businesses to satisfy state legal requirments through visiting a single Web site. At the urging of the Legislature, OPPAGA studied the feasibility of setting up a similar system for new businesses in Florida.
Web sites in Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, South Carolina, Utah and Washington were studied for how businesses interact with the state at a single location. In other states, sites allow owners to register and obtain business licenses, taxpayer and employer identification numbers, register for unemployment and workers compensation, file for permits and update contact information. The sites link together as few as four and as many as ten state agencies.
Florida could achieve virtual consolidation through implementation of a one-stop business portal, Novey said.
There is support for OPPAGAs proposal from the state agencies that would be involved in the site. Creating such a portal would simplify the registration and firing requirements for businesses and improve coordination between state agencies, said Lisa Echeverri, executive director of Floridas Department of Revenue.
Based on his research ofother states' Web sites,Novey said it was clear that one-stop sites provide benefits to both business owners and the state agencies that regulate them. He said one-stop sites let owners start their businesses quicker and also save owners frustration and time by eliminating the need to petition each agency separately. Novey said that stateagencies end up withmore accurate data about businesses and alsoabout the functions of their counterpart agencies.
Echeverri agreed with Novey that a one-stop site would help Florida agencies. This proposed system would improve the quality of information available to state agencies, she said, and it would eliminate multiple agencies from duplicating the same effort of maintaining social data.
The state has been wrestling with the problem of streamlining business processes for over a decade. In 1997, under the Florida Business Coordination Act, the Legislature ordered the Department of State to create a master index, consolidating all business records from participating state agencies.
While recognizing the efforts of the Department of State, Novey saidsuch efforts have achieved limited results. Other agencies have not helped, he said.
Novey warns that starting up the one-stop portal could take time. In other states, it took a year to two years to get in implementation mode, said Novey. He said that Florida could start the one shop portal with the Department of State, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Financial Services and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation when the site is launched, adding other departments later on.
Novey said that the success of a one-stop model depends on mandatory participation from state agencies and a user-friendly system. He said that the six states that have set up the sites relied on consultants to launch the site and found that it required anywhere from $3 million to $10 million to create.
