July 26, 2023 - The Executive Committee of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has recently authorized the appointment of three new drafting committees and one new study committee.
The new drafting committees are:
Drafting Committee on Cybercrime
Cybercrime has expanded over the last few decades. What began as something as simple as “computer crimes” has grown into an incredibly complex system which spans technological, organizational, international, jurisdictional, and economic systems. Cybercrime now includes phishing scams, ransomware, identity theft, and much more. The meteoric increase in cybercrime over the last few decades has put pressure on state and local law enforcement resources. This issue is further exacerbated by the increasingly common multi-jurisdictional nature of cybercrime, which is particularly problematic given the lack of uniformity of cybercrime statutes across U.S. states.
The Drafting Committee on Cybercrime will draft a uniform or model act addressing the procedures for preserving and obtaining evidence needed to bring a cybercrime case in state court. Procedures in state law might include expedited preservation of stored computer data and/or traffic data; a uniform nationwide production order for data; search and seizure of stored computer data; real-time collection of traffic data; and interception of content data.
Drafting Committee on Redaction of Personal Information from Public Records
Almost every state has legislative provisions for redacting personal information from public records in order to address safety concerns. The laws specify varying eligibility, procedures, duration, records, and information covered. In some states, redaction is available to a range of public employees (from judges to law enforcement to county assessors and treasurers to as many as 20 identified categories of employees in one state), certain witnesses of crime, and certain family members of specified public employees. The Drafting Committee on Redaction of Personal Information from Public Records will draft a uniform or model act concerning the ability of judicial officers, law enforcement personnel, and others who demonstrate a credible risk of harm to have their personal information redacted from real property records and other official public records.
Drafting Committee on Virtual Currency Customer Protection
This committee will develop a new act to replace the Uniform Supplemental Commercial Law for the Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currency Business Act (USCL). As with the USCL, the act will require covered businesses to opt into Uniform Commercial Code Article 8 by becoming securities intermediaries and treating a customer's rights to its own virtual currency as a "financial asset." The act will be a free-standing act, not linked to the Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currency Business Act as the USCL was, and will fit on top of whatever regime a state has in place or later adopts to regulate virtual currencies.
The new study committee is:
Study Committee on Use of Artificial Intelligence by State Government
Most artificial intelligence tools used in the public sector are procured from private vendors under contract terms that inhibit public access to the underlying data and to the algorithms that make automated decisions. This committee will study the need for and feasibility of an act addressing the use of artificial intelligence tools by state governments to carry out governmental services, including requirements for the procurement process; requirements for conducting and responding to audits; requirements for disclosure of a tool's capabilities; provisions designed to avoid bias or other harms; provisions addressing redress, appeal, reporting, and licensing transparency; and related issues.
Further information on all current 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 132nd 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 400 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 Senior Director, Strategy & Communications, 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
Senior Director for Strategy and Communications
Chicago IL
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