February 5, 2021 - The Executive Committee of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has recently authorized the appointment of three new drafting committees and two new study committees.
The new drafting committees are:
Drafting Committee on Special Deposits. This committee will draft uniform or model state legislation on special deposits. A special deposit resembles a prefunded letter of credit with three parties: a funder, a bank, and a beneficiary. The bank pays the beneficiary if a specified condition occurs. If the specified condition does not occur, the special deposit reverts to the funder. The law of special deposits has not developed much since the 1930s, and a uniform or model act could provide greater clarity in this area.
Drafting Committee on Tenancy in Common Ownership Default Rules. This committee will draft uniform or model state legislation to resolve problems arising under common law tenancy in common ownership rules. The committee will develop default rules for management of tenancy in common real estate interests (and the proceeds thereof) that enable less-than-unanimous decisions on at least some management issues while also enabling parties to contract around those rules.
Drafting Committee on Health-Care Decisions Act. This committee will update the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act (UHCDA). The UHCDA was originally promulgated in 1993 and has been enacted in eight states. The key issues to be addressed include the determination of capacity; default surrogates (including the priority list of those who can act as surrogate, un-befriended patients, and disagreement among surrogates); barriers to use and execution (including electronic documents, the statutory form, and oral designations); and several other issues. The committee will also give careful consideration to whether mental health issues should be addressed.
The new study committees are:
Study Committee on Use of Tenant Information in Rental Decisions. This committee will study the need for and feasibility of a uniform or model law addressing landlords' use of tenant screening reports in rental decisions. These reports may give landlords outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete information about a prospective tenant's involvement in prior litigation. In particular, the committee will focus on identifying how widespread any problems may be and whether an act should be directed primarily at commercial providers of screening reports.
Study Committee on Election Law. This study committee will study the need for and feasibility of a model act on election law.
Further information on the new drafting and study committees, as well as information on the Uniform Law Commission, can be found at the ULC's website at www.uniformlaws.org.
Study Committees review an assigned area of law in light of defined criteria and recommend whether ULC should proceed with a draft on that subject. Drafting committees, composed of commissioners, with participation from observers, advisors and reporter-drafters, meet throughout the year. Tentative drafts are not submitted to the entire Commission until they have received extensive committee consideration.
Proposed acts are subjected to rigorous examination and debate before they become eligible for designation as ULC products. The final decision on whether an act is ready for promulgation to the states is made near the close of an annual meeting, on a vote by states basis, with an affirmative vote of twenty or more states necessary for final approval.
The Uniform Law Commission, now in its 130th year, provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. The organization comprises more than 300 lawyers, judges, and law professors, appointed by the states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to research, draft and promote enactment of uniform state laws in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. Since its inception in 1892, the group has promulgated more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Partnership Act.
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Contact: Katie Robinson, ULC Communications Officer, krobinson@...
Uniform Law Commission / 111 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 1010, Chicago, IL 60602 / 312-450-6600, www.uniformlaws.org
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Katie Robinson
Legislative Program Director
Chicago IL
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