The Executive Committee of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has recently authorized the appointment of one new drafting committee and two new study committees.
The new drafting committee is:
Drafting Committee on Updates to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. This committee will draft a uniform law that updates both the text of and comments to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The UTSA was originally promulgated in 1979 and amended in 1985. It has been very widely adopted in 52 jurisdictions, but it has not been updated for 40 years, during which there have been numerous changes in the law, practices, and technology.
The new study committees are:
Study Committee on Child Support Orders for Parents of Children in Foster Care. This committee will study the need for and feasibility of a uniform or model law on the entry of child support orders for parents who have children in foster care. The study committee could examine existing practices on the entry of child support orders for parents of children in foster care and develop uniform or model standards for determining when entry of an order of child support against a parent with a child in foster care is appropriate and consistent with a child's best interests. In a majority of states, child protection agencies routinely initiate child support enforcement against parents whose children are removed into foster care in order to offset the cost of government payments made to foster parents. The targeted parents, however, often have little ability to pay. Meanwhile, studies suggest that the cost of administering such child support orders exceeds the amounts collected from the affected families.
Study Committee on Genetic Information Privacy and Discrimination. This committee will study the need for and feasibility of a uniform or model law related to genetic information privacy and discrimination. In 2008, Congress passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which protects individuals from discrimination within employment and health insurance areas. However, GINA does not address broader genetic privacy questions or use of genetic information by other entities such as life, long-term care, or disability insurers. Since GINA's passage, states have considered a myriad of bills relating to genetic privacy and discrimination, creating a patchwork of protection. The study committee will coordinate its efforts with the Study Committee on Mental Privacy, Cognitive Biometrics and Neural Data.
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.
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.
The Uniform Law Commission, now in its 134th 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 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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