Secretary of State of California

Secretary of State of California
California State Seal
Incumbent Alex Padilla since January 5, 2015
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years, two term limit
Inaugural holder	William Van Voorhies 1849
Formation	California Constitution
Salary	$130,490
Website	California Secretary of State

Secretary of State's offices

The Secretary of State of California is the chief elections officer of that U.S. state. The Secretary of State is also responsible for the California State Archives, as well as chartering corporations. The Secretary of State is elected to four year terms, concurrent with the other constitutional officers of California, and is restricted by term limits to only two terms. The current Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, took office on January 5, 2015.

The Secretary of State's responsibilities include: serving as the state's Chief Elections Officer, implementing electronic filing and Internet disclosure of campaign and lobbyist financial information, maintaining business filings, commissioning notaries, operating the Safe at Home confidential address program, maintaining the Domestic Partners and Advance Health Care Directive Registries, safeguarding the California State Archives, and serving as a trustee of the California Museum.

Filing with The Secretary of State of California

The largest portion of the Secretary of State's office, the Business Programs Division, handles corporate filings required for operating business within the state. The Business Entities Section for the California Secretary of State processes, files and maintains records related to corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and other business entities conducting or planning to conduct business in California.

Persons & entities file with the Secretary of State of California for the following reasons: incorporation in the State of California, out-of-state corporation standing, filing to operate as a foreign entity in California, statements of information, corporate status reports, document requests, notary & apostiles.

Secretary of State of California Office Holders

#	Name	Term of office	Party
1	William Van Voorhies	1849-1853	Democrat
2	James W. Denver	1853- 1855	Democrat
3	Charles H. Hempstead	1855-1856	Democrat
4	David F. Douglass	1856-1858	American
5	Ferris Foreman	1858-1860	Democrat
6	Johnson Price	1860-1862	Democrat
7	William H. Weeks	1862-1863	Republican
8	A. A. H. Tuttle	1863	Republican
9	Benjamin B. Redding	1863-1867	Unionist Republican
10	Henry L. Nichols	1867-1871	Democrat
11	Drury Melone	1871-1875	Republican
12	Thomas Beck	1875-1880	Democrat
13	Daniel M. Burns	1880-1883	Republican
14	Thomas Larkin Thompson	1883-1887	Democrat
15	William C. Hendricks	1887-1891	Democrat
16	Edwin G. Waite	1891-1894	Republican
17	Albert Hart	1894-1895	Republican
18	Lewis H. Brown	1895-1899	Republican
19	Charles F. Curry	1899-1911	Republican
20	Frank C. Jordan	1911-1940	Republican
21	Paul Peek	1940-1943	Democrat
22	Frank M. Jordan	1943-1970	Republican
Acting	H. P. Sullivan	1970-1971	Republican
23	Jerry Brown	1971-1975	Democrat
24	March Fong Eu	1975-1994	Democrat
Acting	Tony Miller (acting)	1994-1995	Democrat
25	Bill Jones	1995-2003	Republican
26	Kevin Shelley	2003-2005	Democrat
Acting	Cathy Mitchell	2005-2005	Democrat
27	Bruce McPherson	2005-2007	Republican
28	Debra Bowen	2007-2015	Democrat
29	Alex Padilla	2015-	Democrat

See also

• California government and California politics
• List of company registers

External links

• California Secretary of State's official website