Associated Press Published

Fee Plan for Some Public Filings Halted in W.Va.

WVCapitol.jpg

The Secretary of State’s Office has scrubbed plans to charge fees to obtain public filings for businesses and organizations.

The Charleston Gazette reports the change scheduled to begin Sept. 4 was rescinded by Secretary of State Natalie Tennant’s office Thursday.

Secretary of State spokesman Jake Glance says Tennant has directed her office to develop other solutions to ensure the public can secure business licensing records, while allowing employees to serve businesses.

The new fees had called for a $5 charge to have a document sent by email and $10 to have a document faxed.

The fee proposal came after some entities requested a large amount of documents at one time after online records were removed from the Secretary of State’s website in June.