(a) To become a registered limited liability partnership, a partnership, other than a limited partnership, shall file with the Secretary of State a registration, executed by one or more partners authorized to execute a registration, stating all of the following:

(1) The name of the partnership.

(2) The street address of its principal office.

(3) The mailing address of its principal office, if different from the street address.

(4) The name and street address of the agent for service of process on the limited liability partnership in California in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 16309.

(5) A brief statement of the business in which the partnership engages.

(6) Any other matters that the partnership determines to include.

(7) That the partnership is registering as a registered limited liability partnership.

(b) The registration shall be accompanied by a fee as set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 12189 of the Government Code.

(c) The Secretary of State shall register as a registered limited liability partnership any partnership that submits a completed registration with the required fee.

(d) The Secretary of State may cancel the filing of the registration if a check or other remittance accepted in payment of the filing fee is not paid upon presentation. Upon receiving written notification that the item presented for payment has not been honored for payment, the Secretary of State shall give a first written notice of the applicability of this section to the agent for service of process or to the person submitting the instrument. Thereafter, if the amount has not been paid by cashier’s check or equivalent, the Secretary of State shall give a second written notice of cancellation and the cancellation shall thereupon be effective. The second notice shall be given 20 days or more after the first notice and 90 days or less after the date of the original filing.

(e) A partnership becomes a registered limited liability partnership at the time of the filing of the initial registration with the Secretary of State or at any later date or time specified in the registration and the payment of the fee required by subdivision (b). A partnership continues as a registered limited liability partnership until a notice that it is no longer a registered limited liability partnership has been filed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 16954 or, if applicable, until it has been dissolved and finally wound up. The status of a partnership as a registered limited liability partnership and the liability of a partner of the registered limited liability partnership shall not be adversely affected by errors or subsequent changes in the information stated in a registration under subdivision (a) or an amended registration or notice under Section 16954.

(f) The fact that a registration or amended registration pursuant to this section is on file with the Secretary of State is notice that the partnership is a registered limited liability partnership and of those other facts contained therein that are required to be set forth in the registration or amended registration.

(g) The Secretary of State shall provide a form for a registration under subdivision (a), which shall include the form for confirming compliance with the optional security requirement pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 16956. The Secretary of State shall include with instructional materials provided in conjunction with the form for a registration under subdivision (a) a notice that filing the registration will obligate the limited liability partnership to pay an annual tax for that taxable year to the Franchise Tax Board pursuant to Section 17948 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. That notice shall be updated annually to specify the dollar amount of the tax.

(h) A limited liability partnership providing professional limited liability partnership services in this state shall comply with all statutory and administrative registration or filing requirements of the state board, commission, or other agency that prescribes the rules and regulations governing the particular profession in which the partnership proposes to engage, pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Business and Professions Code relating to that profession. The state board, commission, or other agency shall not disclose, unless compelled by a subpoena or other order of a court of competent jurisdiction, any information it receives in the course of evaluating the compliance of a limited liability partnership with applicable statutory and administrative registration or filing requirements, provided that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a state board, commission, or other agency from disclosing the manner in which the limited liability partnership has complied with the requirements of Section 16956, or the compliance or noncompliance by the limited liability partnership with any other requirements of the state board, commission, or other agency.

(i) An agent designated for service of process may deliver to the Secretary of State, on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State for filing, a signed and acknowledged written statement of resignation as an agent for service of process containing the name of the limited liability partnership and the Secretary of State’s file number of the limited liability partnership, the name of the resigning agent for service of process, and a statement that the agent is resigning. On filing of the statement of resignation, the authority of the agent to act in that capacity shall cease and the Secretary of State shall mail or otherwise provide written notice of the filing of the statement of resignation to the limited liability partnership at its principal office.

(j) The resignation of an agent may be effective if, on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State containing the name of the limited liability partnership and Secretary of State’s file number for the limited liability partnership and the name of the agent for service of process, the agent disclaims having been properly appointed as the agent.

(k) If an individual who has been designated agent for service of process dies, resigns, or no longer resides in the state or if the corporate agent for that purpose resigns, dissolves, withdraws from the state, forfeits its right to transact intrastate business, has its corporate rights, powers, and privileges suspended, or ceases to exist, the limited liability partnership shall promptly file an amended registration as a limited liability partnership designating a new agent.

(l) The Secretary of State may destroy or otherwise dispose of any statement of resignation filed pursuant to this section after a new registration is filed pursuant to this section replacing the agent for service of process that has resigned.

(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 834, Sec. 34. (SB 1041) Effective January 1, 2015.)