The Business Entity Standard Treatment (B.E.S.T.) Act, designed to streamline the filing process for businesses in Kansas, has been unanimously passed by the Kansas Legislature. With the governor’s signature, the bill will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in a release that the bill’s passage was an important step in making Kansas as “business-friendly as possible” by centralizing into one statute the variety of filing requirements for the most common business entities.

“The business community will benefit greatly by the simplified document filing process, the standardized treatment of similar entities and the reduction of technical errors that will save time,” Kobach said.

The passed legislation applies to all documents that are required to be filed with the Kansas Secretary of State concerning the four most common types of businesses, which are companies, limited liability companies, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships. Previously, each of these types of businesses was controlled by a separate law in Kansas.