§ 52-1312. Central filing system; Secretary of State; duties; system requirements; fees.

The Secretary of State shall design and implement a central filing system for effective financing statements. The Secretary of State shall be the system operator. The system shall provide a means for filing effective financing statements or notices of such financing statements on a statewide basis. The system shall include requirements: (1) That an effective financing statement or notice of such financing statement shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. A debtor's residence shall be presumed to be the residence shown on the filing. The showing of an improper residence shall not affect the validity of the filing. The filing officer shall mark the statement or notice with a consecutive file number and with the date and hour of filing and shall hold the statement or notice or a microfilm or other digital copy thereof for public inspection. In addition, the filing officer shall index the statements and notices according to the name of the debtor and shall note in the index the file number and the address of the debtor given in the statement; (2) That the Secretary of State compile information from all effective financing statements or notices filed with the Secretary of State into a master list (a) organized according to farm product, (b) arranged within each such product (i) in alphabetical order according to the last name of the individual debtors or, in the case of debtors doing business other than as individuals, the first word in the name of such debtors, (ii) in numerical order according to the approved unique identifier of the debtors, (iii) geographically by county, and (iv) by crop year, and (c) containing the information referred to in subdivision (4) of section 52-1307; (3) That the Secretary of State cause the information on the master list to be published in lists (a) by farm product arranged alphabetically by debtor and (b) by farm product arranged numerically by the debtor's approved unique identifier. If a registered buyer so requests, the list or lists for such buyer may be limited to any county or group of counties where the farm product is produced or located or to any crop year or years or a combination of such identifiers; (4) That all buyers of farm products, commission merchants, selling agents, and other persons may register with the Secretary of State to receive or obtain lists described in subdivision (3) of this section. Any buyer of farm products, commission merchant, selling agent, or other person conducting business from multiple locations shall be considered as one entity. Such registration shall be on an annual basis. The Secretary of State shall provide the form for registration which shall include the name and address of the registrant and the list or lists described in subdivision (3) of this section which such registrant desires to receive or obtain. A registration shall not be completed until the form provided is properly completed and received by the Secretary of State accompanied by the proper registration fee set by the Secretary of State. For access to the master lien list which contains the lists described in subdivision (3) of this section, the registration fee shall be an amount determined by the Secretary of State not to exceed two hundred dollars per year. The Secretary of State shall maintain a record of the registrants and the lists and contents of the lists received or obtained by the registrants for a period of five years; (5) That the lists as identified pursuant to subdivision (4) of this section be distributed or published by the Secretary of State not more often than once every month and not less often than once every three months as determined by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State may provide for the distribution or publication of the lists on any medium and establish reasonable charges for such lists, not to exceed the fee provided for in subdivision (4) of this section. The Secretary of State shall, by rule and regulation, establish the dates upon which the distributions or publications will be made, the dates after which a filing of an effective financing statement will not be reflected on the next distribution or publication of lists, and the dates by which a registrant must complete a registration to receive or obtain the next list; and (6) That the Secretary of State remove lapsed and terminated effective financing statements or notices of such financing statements from the master list prior to preparation of the lists required to be distributed or published by subdivision (5) of this section. Effective financing statements or any amendments or continuations of effective financing statements originally filed in the office of the county clerk that have been indexed and entered on the Secretary of State's central filing system need not be retained by the county filing office and may be disposed of or destroyed. The Secretary of State shall apply to the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture for (a) certification of the central filing system and (b) approval of the system or method of selecting an approved unique identifier. The Secretary of State shall remit any funds received pursuant to subdivision (4) or (5) of this section to the State Treasurer for credit to the Secretary of State Cash Fund. History: Laws 1986, Third Spec. Sess., LB 1, § 12; Laws 1988, LB 943, § 13; Laws 1998, LB 924, § 21; Laws 1998, LB 1321, § 91; Laws 2005, LB 451, § 1; Laws 2007, LB124, § 63; Laws 2015, LB464, § 2; Laws 2016, LB1035, § 2; Laws 2020, LB910, § 19; Laws 2026, LB835, § 4.