Business Licensing Service hits milestone with 100 partner cities

Town of Springdale joins today

OLYMPIA, WASH. – July 25, 2019 – The state’s Business Licensing Service (BLS) is celebrating a major milestone after the town of Springdale today becomes the 100^th local government to partner with the state’s licensing service.

Springdale, population 300, is northwest of Spokane in Stevens County and licenses about 30 local businesses. The complete list of BLS partner cities is at dor.wa.gov/city-license-endorsements.

Since it was created in the 1970s, BLS has become a vital public partnership that makes doing business easier and more convenient by streamlining licensing services with state and local governments’ licensing programs. This licensing process allows businesses to apply for more than 600 required state and city licenses in a single transaction, and renew those licenses each year.

A growing service

Initially called the state Master License Service, the Business Licensing Service was created from the Business License Center Act and administered by the Department of Licensing. The program has grown steadily over the decades and began adding local licensing for cities and towns by 1997. It was transferred to the Department of Revenue in 2011 as the Business Licensing Service.

BLS added its 50^th city partner in 2012. Since then, BLS replaced its computer system, further enhancing business licensing and integrating with the state tax reporting services.

BLS will extend its services to another 80 cities by 2022.

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