R.I. eyes new Web site for firms’ filings

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island requires entrepreneurs to fill out 15 forms to start a landscape architecture business, 11 to become a yoga instructor and 10 to start as an alcohol importer.

All told, there are 307 forms which state agencies may request from someone looking to open a business in the Ocean State. Now, R.I. Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis wants to bring them all under one roof.

He just needs $250,000 to do it.

Mollis will announce at the Statehouse on Thursday a plan for a master online application that would create a unified system to register new businesses. Mollis told Providence Business News the system would allow people to enter basic information such as names and addresses once, with the data automatically copied to other forms.

Mollis said part of the idea for his “Quick Start” initiative came from previous legislation that had directed the secretary of state’s office to explore the creation of a master form. But after talking with current and would-be business owners in the state, it became clear that something major needed to be done, Mollis said.

About 6,900 new companies were registered in Rhode Island last year, according to the secretary of state’s office. “It was just obvious that we could use technology to streamline the application process,” Mollis said.

The $250,000 estimated cost of creating the new online system would support the design work needed to integrate the state agencies’ requests , said Chris Barnett, Mollis’ spokesman.

“In this case, rather than just have one vendor – as you would if you purchased something online from Target – you might be working with three or four or five state agencies to get your business started, and that’s very complicated software to develop,” Barnett said.

Barnett said fewer than a handful of states have deployed similar systems. South Carolina, which has a system that has been hailed as a model, spent about $4 million to develop it, he said.

If money were appropriated, Rhode Island’s version of a one-stop system could be online by the end of this year, Mollis said.

He expressed confidence that funding would be provided, since the idea has support from Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, legislative leaders and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. There also may be an opportunity to secure federal money for the project.

Separately, the secretary of state’s office on Thursday introduced the First Stop Business Information Center, a new online library that organizes documents by type of business. Visitors can click a business type, such as “Wine Importer,” “Towing” or “Satellite Dish Installation,” and see all the forms required to start that type of business.

Mollis said both initiatives could help create jobs by allowing businesses to get off the ground and start hiring more quickly.

Additional information is available at sos.ri.gov.