Allows certain limited liability companies to terminate alternate names before end of five-year registration period.
Summary
A4955 amends New Jersey’s business-entity filing laws to let certain limited liability companies end a registered alternate name before the end of the five-year registration period. Under current law, LLCs may register an alternate name, renew it in five-year increments, and in some cases file a termination certificate if they stop using the name. This bill preserves that general framework but creates an exception for LLCs that operate as residential landlords: those entities would not be authorized to file a termination certificate before the registration period expires.
The bill also makes related conforming changes to the LLC fee statute and to the corporate alternate-name statute. It updates filing references from the filing office or Secretary of State to the State Treasurer, and it expressly adds a $50 filing fee for a certificate of termination of alternate name. The corporate alternate-name provisions are revised in parallel to reflect the same administrative change to the State Treasurer, but the core corporate rules remain largely the same.
Impact
The bill would change Title 42 of the New Jersey Statutes, specifically the New Jersey Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, by allowing most LLCs to file a termination certificate for an alternate name before the five-year registration expires, while barring that option for LLCs operating as residential landlords. It also amends the LLC fee schedule to add a termination-certificate filing fee and makes technical updates to filing authority references. In addition, it amends Title 14A to align corporate alternate-name provisions with the State Treasurer as the filing authority, though those corporate rules are not substantively changed in the same way as the LLC provisions.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or vote history in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears neutral and administrative rather than controversial. The measure is framed as a targeted business-filing update, suggesting a practical purpose of giving most LLCs more flexibility in managing alternate names. The specific carveout for residential landlords indicates some policy sensitivity, but there is no direct evidence in the provided record of strong support or opposition.
Contention
The main point of contention is the residential landlord exception. The bill allows LLCs generally to terminate alternate-name registrations early, but it expressly prohibits LLCs that operate as residential landlords from doing so before the five-year term ends. That distinction suggests concern about landlord entities changing or dropping alternate names too quickly, possibly to preserve transparency or accountability in housing-related business activity. No other specific objections or competing viewpoints are documented in the provided transcripts or voting record.