The Clerk’s Office is an administrative position that implements laws passed by the state legislature and the county commission. That doesn’t mean that when we see something that needs changing we can’t go to the legislature to fix it. Each year we take to our state convention of County Fiscal Officers Association (CFOA), an organization comprised of Clerks, Treasurers, Auditors, Recorders and Election Officials, needed legislative changes that we have seen first hand.
Goya Uncovers Deceptive Business Practices
One of the issues that we were able to bring to legislators’ attention was uncovered in Fictitious Firm Name filings for business. We saw an increasing use of names that the average citizen would believe were a government office. That confusion was a deliberate attempt to trick consumers into going to private business sites instead of government sites when seeking government documents and services. These private sites gather public government documents and mimic government services similar to the government — at a much higher price. Coupled with purchasing sponsored content status, these businesses often appear at the top of search engines before the government site.
Consumers Deserve Clarity
If consumers want to pay extra for goods and services provided by private sites instead of by the government agency, that is all well and good. But if consumers are deceived into believing that they are going to a government site when they are really going to a private business, that is something else.
Good Government in Action
I worked with the 2017 state legislature on AB317 to revise provisions governing limitations on conducting business using certain fictitious firm names. AB317 “prohibits a person from adopting a fictitious name which imitates or causes another person to reasonably believe the fictitious name is the name of, or a name associated with, a government, governmental agency… or any other governmental entity.” Signed by the Governor on May 26, 2017, and effective on July 1, 2017, this bill protects consumers by making it easier to distinguish private businesses from government agencies.