The California Department of Corporations (DOC) was a department within the former

California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency The California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BTH) was a state cabinet-level agency in the government of California. It was superseded by the new California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) on July 1, 2013. The Business, Trans ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The chief officer of the Department was the Commissioner of Corporations. Effective July 1, 2013, the Department of Corporations and the Department of Financial Institutions became divisions of the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) pursuant to the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012.

History

The Department of Corporations was originally known as the "State Corporation Department" and was created by the "Investment Companies Act". Governor

Hiram Johnson Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the Governor of California, 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century ...

appointed H.L. Carnahan as California's first Commissioner of Corporations in 1914. The Investment Companies Act faced immediate opposition but was approved by the voters in a 1914 referendum. In 1917, the legislature enacted the Corporate Securities Act. The combination of the Department of Corporations and the Department of Financial Institutions was controversial. A 2009 proposal introduced by Assemblymember Nava (AB 33) was opposed by five former Commissioners, Superintendents and Chief Deputies of the Departments of Banking and Financial Institutions who signed a letter voicing their "strong" opposition to the plan. That proposal failed to be enacted. Former Commissioner of Corporations Keith Paul Bishop testified against the Governor's reorganization plan when it was being considered by California's Little Hoover Commission. Notwithstanding these concerns, the Little Hoover Commission recommended that the Legislature allow the Governor's Reorganization Plan go forward.

Laws administered

The Department of Corporations administered and enforced the following California laws: * Corporate Securities Law of 1968 * Franchise Investment Law * California Commodity Law of 1990 * Capital Access Company Law * Deferred Deposit Transaction Law * Bucket Shop Law *

Escrow An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacti ...

Law * California Finance Lenders Law * California Residential Mortgage Lending Act

List of commissioners

References

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Corporations A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

https://web.archive.org/web/20170412062442/http://www.dbo.ca.gov/About_DBO/Commissioner_Owen.asp