New laws take effect Jan. 1

Three new state laws took effect Jan. 1, 2015 - one phases out the state’s mortgage registration fee, another removes a special vehicle category for electric vehicles and the third standardizes business filings. 

HB 2643

The state’s mortgage registration fee is being phased out in the next five years, and, as of Jan. 1, a new increased per-page fee is being implemented for all filings with register of deeds offices across the state.

House Bill 2643 was signed by Gov. Sam Brownback earlier this year to eliminate the state’s 89-year-old mortgage registration fee.

Previously, 26 cents for each $100 owned on a mortgage was collected. In 2015, that fee reduces to 20 cents. For a $100,000 house, the fee would be $200.

In 2016, the rate will be 15 cents for each $100 owned, 10 cents in 2017, five cents in 2018 and then eliminated altogether beginning in 2019.

While the mortgage registration fee decreases, the cost to file paperwork with the register of deeds office will increase.

Beginning this year, the cost for recording the first page of a deed, mortgage or other instruments of writing will increase from $8 to $12. Each additional page will cost $8, which is up from $4 charged in 2014. To record a town plat, a $23 fee is being charged for each page, up from $20 per page. Additional fees are also increasing.

All pages with a mortgage are now subject to recording fee charges. Mortgage registration affidavits will no longer be free to record. They will be considered an additional page and recording fees need to be paid accordingly, it was reported.

For more information locally, contact the Jackson County Register of Deeds office at 785-364-3591.

HB 2451

This bill, which took effect Jan. 1, 2015, removes a separate vehicle registration category and a $14 registration fee for state residents who own an “electrically propelled” motor vehicle.

Now, the registration fee for electric vehicles will be determined by measuring the vehicle’s weight and then using the same weight categories currently used for other passenger vehicles. For all but the heaviest passenger vehicles, the registration fee is $30, it was reported.

The registration fee for electrically powered motor vehicles was last increased in 2002, from $13 to $14.

According to the original House bill, the Kansas Department of Revenue reported a total of 13,380 electric or hybrid vehicles registered in Kansas as of January 2014.

HB 2721

As of Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, this new piece of legislation created the Business Entity Standard Treatment (B.E.S.T.) Act, harmonizing business entity filing statutes for corporations, limited liability companies. LLCs, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in a press release earlier this year that this act centralizes into one statute the various filing requirements for the most common business entities.

“The B.E.S.T. Act makes it easier to find the filing rules, and it reduces confusion,” Koback said. “The business community will benefit greatly by the simplified document filing process, the standardized treatment of similar entities and the reduction of technical errors that will save time, effort and costs. This is an important step in making Kansas as business-friendly as possible.”

The new law applies to all documents required to be filed with the secretary of state related to the four most common business entities: corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships.

Prior to this law, each of these four entities was governed by its own separate law appearing in entirely different parts of Kansas Statutes Annotated.

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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