Juneau, Alaska – The Alaska House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill to make Alaska a better place to do business, modernizing state laws on how businesses do business.

House Bill 57, sponsored by Representative Lindsey Holmes, R-Anchorage, amends statutes to conform to the Uniform Commissioners’ Model Entity Transaction Act, or META. The Act was put forth to help entrepreneurs and businesses have a simplified, efficient and uniform framework in place, and relieve complex and unnecessary hurdles.

“HB 57 is about making Alaska a better place to do business,” Holmes, R-Anchorage, said. “Though it’s a long bill, the concept is simple: marketplace efficiency. We propose streamlining the laws that govern business transactions in Alaska, creating a uniform playbook for them to use.”

There are many different types of “entities” that do business in Alaska. Examples are professional corporations, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, and limited liability limited partnerships. All of these businesses engage in transactions with each other, through mergers, conversions, interest exchanges and domestications. Right now, each of these types of business has to operate under different rules and it creates difficulties for transactions between different business-types. The changes within HB 57 bring Alaska more into the mainstream of widely accepted statutory business law.

“I am happy to be a co-prime sponsor of this legislation. Removing obstacles for business makes sense on every level,” House Labor & Commerce Committee Chair Kurt Olson, R-Soldotna/Kenai, said.

HB 57 now moves to the Alaska Senate for consideration.