17-7910. Filing process; signatures; tender of taxes and fees; certification by secretary of state; evidence of authority to file not required. When any document is required by this act to be filed with the secretary of state, such requirement means that:

(a) The original signed document shall be delivered to the office of the secretary of state, where the document shall be recorded in an electronic medium. Any signature on documents authorized to be filed with the secretary of state under the provisions of this act may be a facsimile, a conformed signature or an electronically transmitted signature;

(b) all taxes and fees authorized by law to be collected by the secretary of state in connection with the filing of the document shall be tendered to the secretary of state;

(c) upon delivery of the document, and upon tender of the required taxes and fees, the secretary of state shall, if the secretary of state finds that the document conforms to law, certify that the document has been filed in the office of the secretary of state by endorsing upon the electronically-recorded document the word "Filed" and the date and hour of its filing. This endorsement is the "filing date" of the document and is conclusive of the date and time of its filing in the absence of actual fraud. The secretary of state shall thereupon record the endorsed document in an electronic medium and that electronic document shall become the original document; and

(d) the secretary of state shall return a certified copy of the recorded document to the person who filed the document or that person's representative, except this provision shall not apply to annual reports.

(e) A person who executes any document required by this act to be filed with the secretary of state, including a person who executes such document as an agent or fiduciary, shall not be required to exhibit evidence of the person's authority as a prerequisite to filing such documents with the secretary of state.

History: L. 2014, ch. 121, § 10; L. 2015, ch. 65, § 13; July 1.