ST. PAUL, Minn. — Businesses of a new stripe are registering in a Minnesota.

They're called public benefit corporations, and they give businesses more leeway to use profits to help the public as well as their shareholders. The Minnesota Secretary of State's office was set Friday morning to hold an event registering the state's first public benefit corporations.

Legislators passed a law last year creating the new corporate framework. At least 26 other states have such a business category.

State Sen. John Marty, a Roseville Democrat who authored the bill in the Senate, says the new structure will help socially-minded businesses make a bigger public impact.