NEW DRAFTING AND STUDY COMMITTEES TO BE APPOINTED
March 1, 2016 — At its recent 2016 Midyear Meeting, the Executive Committee of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) authorized the appointment of one new drafting committee and three new study committees.
The new drafting committee is:
Drafting Committee to Revise UCC Articles 1, 3, and 9
A joint Committee comprised of members of the Uniform Law Commission and the American Law Institute will draft revisions to Articles 1, 3, and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code to provide the substantive commercial law rules to support an electronic registry for residential mortgage notes on a national basis with minimal displacement of state laws. Article 3 rules were developed for a paper-based commercial practice in which residential mortgage notes normally are held in portfolio by the lending bank. The Committee will revise Article 3 to accommodate electronic documentation practices in commercial mortgage transactions. Further, the Committee will undertake revisions to Article 9 provisions governing the granting and perfection of security interests in electronic mortgage notes held as collateral; the way security interests attach; priorities; and possession; as well as the transfer of ownership notes and the transfer of rights in the mortgage securing electronic mortgage notes. Finally, the Committee will consider revisions to key definitions in Article 1 to ensure consistency with revisions to Articles 3 and 9.
The new study committees are:
Study Committee on Trust Management of Funds Raised Through Public Fundraising
This Committee will study the need for and feasibility of uniform or model state legislation concerning the trust management of funds raised for individuals and families by public fundraising efforts, such as crowdfunding. This study is prompted by the growing number of appeals to the public to provide funds for a person or family in need, many prompted by the rise of online crowdfunding sites. The Committee will consider whether uniform or model law should be drafted to provide clear legal rules governing the use of funds raised through such public appeals. In particular, the Committee will examine whether uniform or model law can usefully and feasibly address the appropriate use of funds; preventing potential misuse of funds; liability of custodians for funds; and disposition of excess funds.
Study Committee on Identity Management in Electronic Commerce
This study committee will study the need for and feasibility of uniform or model state legislation concerning identity management in electronic commerce. Identity management is a set of processes to manage the identification, authentication, and authorization of individuals, legal entities, devices, or other subjects in online and other electronic contexts. It provides the answer to two simple questions that each party asks about the other party: “Who are you?” and “How can you prove it?” The Committee will consider whether there are viable uniform or model legal approaches to address concerns about trustworthiness, including, for example, disclosure requirements that allow parties to accurately assess risks; giving various legal effects to certain types of conduct that might enhance or detract from trust; and imposing requirements that govern conduct to ensure trust. The Committee’s study also will include examining the need for and feasibility of state law governing the level of security provided by a party to an identity management transaction or by a trust service provider; defining the legal effect of electronic identification and authentication; interstate recognition of an electronic transaction under particular identification and authentication standards; allocation of liability; and remedies for a party’s failure to meet its obligations.
Study Committee on Event Data Recorders in Cars
This Committee will study the need for and feasibility of uniform or model state legislation concerning event data recorders in cars. Event data recorders, also known as “EDRs”, “black boxes,” and “sensing and diagnostic modules,” record information, such as vehicle speed, occupants’ seat belt use, vehicle location, and brake usage. The Committee will consider the issues raised by the installation of EDRs, including privacy issues; disclosure requirements; ownership of data; use of EDR data as evidence; access to and data retrieval for use by law enforcement or others; use required by or retrieved by insurers; and use of EDR data as evidence in legal proceedings.
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.
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 125th 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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Uniform Law Commission
111 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 1010, Chicago, IL 60602
312-450-6600, www.uniformlaws.org
Contact: Katie Robinson, ULC Communications Officer, krobinson@...