Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2014 City Fee Changes

Partners,

A few of our city partners have new fees in 2014.  

As of January 1, Bellevue, DuPont, Sequim, and Stanwood will have changes to their fees.

At the close of business December 31, the City Business License Addendum and City Fee Sheet will be updated with these changes.

Happy New Year!

Monday, December 23, 2013

New Business License Application Forms for 2014

Partners,

The state Business License Application form has been updated. New ones will be mailed to you this week.

Find the revised Business License Application here starting the first of the year. (Update effective after 5 p.m. on December 31.)

Because of this change, current stock of the old form is obsolete.

Start using the new applications January 1, 2014.

Any business license applications that has a different revision date other than 11/21/13 must be recycled or destroyed.

This is the letter with complete information.


~BLS Partnership Services

Monday, December 16, 2013

BLS Partnership Services news updates

Partners-


Good tidings of the season!
We’re nearing the end of 2013, which makes this a good time to update you about the past year as well as the coming year work of the state Business Licensing Service.


Here are a few items of note:


  • Angie Roberts has joined the team as the Partnership Services Assistant. She looks forward to meeting all of you. She will work Monday to Thursday and you can usually reach her at 360.705.6777.
  • Brandi Greene, a 10-year veteran of business licensing, was named Partnership Services Coordinator in November. We're lucky to have her experience and skills working for our city and agency partners.
  • Marijuana applications are being accepted till Dec. 20. Licenses will be issued by Liquor Control Board next year.
  • BLS is moving ahead with its systems replacement. We're excited for the flexibility a new system will provide to our partners. As we work on the replacement, no changes can be made to BLS forms or mainframe programming. Thank you for your understanding as we commit resources and staff to work on this vital systems replacement.


We'll keep you updated of more changes as they happen. 

Happy Holidays to all!

~BLS Partnership Services

Taxpayer and BLS Services Will Be Closed Dec. 17

Partners,

Taxpayer Services including Business Licensing Service are attending an all day training on Tuesday, Dec. 17

There will be another division covering our front counter so that it can remain open for that day.

Taxpayer Services and BLS staff will be available and back in the office Wednesday, Dec. 18.

Thank you,

~ BLS Partnership Services

Friday, December 13, 2013

I-502 Application Period Ends December 20

Partners,

As you know, the state Business Licensing Service is accepting applications for marijuana producers, processors, and retailers. The application period ends December 20.

In order to be considered for approval, completed applications must be received no later than end of business December 20.

*Please do not accept applications past this date*

Until the December 20 deadline, BLS will continue to process applications regardless of local jurisdiction requirements. Liquor Control Board will investigate and approve applications according to approved rules under Initiative 502. The LCB information page is here.

Updated licensing information is at http://bls.dor.wa.gov/marijuana.aspx.

TIMELINE
  • Oct. 16       Liquor Control Board adopts proposed rules 
  • Nov. 18      Business Licensing Service begins accepting applications for all license types (producer, processor, and retailer)
  • Nov. 20      Board begins processing applications for all license types (30-day window) 
  • Dec. 1        Rules are complete
  • Dec. 20      30-day window closes for producer, processor and retailer license applications 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

UPDATE: Secure File Transfer (sft.wa.gov) down Sunday morning

Partners,

Technicians will be moving the Secure File Transfer service to a virtual server platform which includes an operating system upgrade. The system will be down during the upgrade.

Current end user functionality should remain the same.

Upgrades will be applied:

7:00 am – 12:00 noon
Sunday, December 15

Backlog Due to Marijuana Applications

Due to the high volume of Recreational Marijuana applications we are receiving,
BLS staff are experiencing a processing backlog of approximately six (6 ) days.


As of today we are processing documents received on Friday, Dec. 6.

Please allow up to 10 business days before inquiring about applications. We are working diligently to get all applications processed timely. 

 

Monday, December 2, 2013

UPDATE: Secure Access Washington down overnight Tuesday

8:30 a.m.
Dec. 4
The updates to https://secureaccess.wa.gov went perfectly. System is up and running.

----
Hi, City Partners,
 
Good news. The state's IT support agency (Consolidated Technology Services) is upgrading the software on the SecureAccess Washington (SAW) gateway tonight.
 
The https://secureacess.wa.gov  gateway will be down from 6:30 p.m. tonight through 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
No functions will be affected. You may see minor changes to the web pages, however.

~ BLS Partnership Services

 


 

 

 

 

 

2014 State Treasurer Distribution Dates

Hello Partners,
 
Here is the 2014 calendar of distribution dates for local license fees. These are sent by Office of State Treasurer (OST) after we collect on your behalf.
 
Please let us know if you have any questions about the deposits.

Happy Holidays!