(1) The Legislature finds that:
(a) As documented by the Governor’s Single Business Identifier Interagency Task Force, state government places a heavy burden on the business community of this state through the requirement to obtain and maintain numerous licenses, permits, and registrations.
(b) While such requirements are necessary to ensure the public safety and welfare, present methods for the business community to meet such obligations, as prescribed by law and administered and enforced by state agencies, are cumbersome and place an undue hardship on business entities in this state.
(c) The potential exists for the state to more easily identify and eliminate duplicative or outdated licensing requirements and thereby reduce its cost of operation without jeopardizing the public safety or welfare.
(2) It is the intent of this act to establish a master business index within the Department of State and to facilitate a reporting mechanism which consolidates and coordinates business entity licensing and reporting requirements whenever possible.
History.—s. 1, ch. 97-15.