January 24, 2024 - 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 Updates to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. This committee will develop targeted updates to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA). The existing act has been enacted in every state since it was approved by the ULC more than 40 years ago. Under UTMA, a person may transfer property to a custodian for the benefit of a minor. Issues to be addressed include raising the termination age, revising the appointment process for successor custodians, clarifying UTMA use for support obligations, permitting distributions for qualified minors' trusts and 529 (and 529A ABLE) accounts, increasing monetary thresholds for court oversight, allowing joint custodians, specifically referencing certain property interests, and other similar issues.
Drafting Committee on Occupational Licenses of Servicemembers and Military Spouses. This committee will develop a uniform or model act addressing state law changes needed to implement the federal mandate under Title VII of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act as amended in January 2023, and other related issues.
Drafting Committee on Commercial Financing Disclosure. This committee will draft a uniform or model act addressing disclosure requirements in commercial financing transactions. Topics to be considered include which finance providers and transactions to cover, what information should be disclosed, and what the consequences of violations should be.
The new study committee is:
Study Committee on Definition and Protection of a Child's Interest in the Child's Name, Image, Likeness and Other Intellectual Property. This committee will study the need for and feasibility of an act addressing the definition and protection of a child's interest in the child's name, image, likeness, and other intellectual property. This study committee was proposed by the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Family Law, based on concerns regarding the growing use of children as social media influencers (often referred to as "kidfluencers").
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 133rd 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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