Article 9 and lien-related legislation
Florida: Senate Bill 984, which would authorize a judgment lien to be acquired on specified personal property and in all payment intangibles and accounts of a judgment debtor whose location is in the state, passed the Senate on 2/21/2024.
Mississippi: House Bill 1552 was introduced on 2/19/2024 to provide for consideration of amendments to Part 5 of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 9. No specific proposed changes were reflected in the bill text as introduced.
Missouri: Senate Bill 1433 was introduced on 2/21/2024 to amend the definition of “farm products” in UCC § 9-102 to include trees and delete the exclusion of standing timber.
Other uniform laws legislation (includes the 2022 Amendments to the UCC with UCC Article 12-Controllable Electronic Records)
Iowa: Senate Bill 2389 was introduced on 2/19/2024 to amend provisions of the UCC applicable to controllable electronic records. The bill then passed the Senate on 2/21/2024 and is pending in the House. Iowa enacted an early version of the 2022 Amendments to the UCC in 2022. This bill appears intended to bring that law into conformity with the final official text of the 2022 Amendments, including the transition provisions. This appears similar to House Bill 2519, which was introduced last week.
Kentucky: Senate Bill 155, which would enact the 2022 Amendments to the UCC, including UCC Article 12-Controllable Electronic Records, and related amendments, passed the Senate on 2/22/2024.
Minnesota: Senate Bill 4080 was introduced on 2/21/2024 to amend UCC Article 8 to remove provisions related to securities intermediaries and refer to entitlement holders. The bill also deletes UCC § 9-305(a)(3) regarding law governing perfection and priority of a security interest in a security entitlement or securities account.
Mississippi: House Bill 1294 was introduced on 2/19/2024 to amend the state’s version of UCC § 1-201 to define “central bank digital currency” and exclude it from the definitions of “money,” “check,” “monetary value,” “money transmission,” and “personal money order.”
Mississippi: Senate Bill 2772 was introduced on 2/19/2024 to amend UCC Article 8 to remove provisions related to securities intermediaries and refer to entitlement holders. The bill also amends UCC § 9-305(a)(3) to refer to entitlement holders.
Missouri: House Bill 2780 was introduced on 2/21/2024 to enact the 2022 Amendments to the UCC, including UCC Article 12, Controllable Electronic Records, and related amendments. The bill also defines “central bank digital currency” and prohibits a public entity from accepting payment in central bank digital currency or participating in any test of central bank digital currency with the Federal Reserve.
South Dakota: House Bill 1163, which would enact the 2022 Amendments to the UCC, including UCC Article 12-Controllable Electronic Records, and related amendments, passed the Senate on 2/20/2024 and is pending delivery to the governor. This bill also adds a definition for “central bank digital currency” and a non-uniform definition of “money” that states that “the term is not intended and cannot be construed to create or adopt a central bank digital currency.” These changes appear intended to address concerns that led to the governor vetoing a similar bill last year.
Emerging technology legislation (blockchain, distributed ledger technology, cryptocurrency, etc.)
Alabama: House Bill 214 was introduced on 2/21/2024 to prohibit the state from (i) restricting the use or storage of digital assets; (ii) levying additional taxes on digital assets; (iii) restricting digital asset mining; or (iv) enacting zoning restrictions or noise restrictions specific to digital asset mining. The bill would also exempt digital asset mining, staking, and the operation of a node from classification as a security or money transmission.
California: See Assembly Bill 2980 under real estate recording-related legislation below.
Idaho: House Bill 585 was introduced on 2/16/2024 to address digital assets. This bill would (i) exclude central bank digital currency from the UCC 1-201 definition of “money”; (ii) prohibit any state, county, or local government from conducting transactions in central bank digital currency; (iii) establish a right to mine bitcoin; (iv) limit state and local government ability to impose requirements on bitcoin mining that do not apply to all businesses generally; and (iii) prevent state and local government from imposing a tax on the use of bitcoin as a payment method.
Utah: House Bill 118, which would address private keys, passed the Senate on 2/16/2024 and is pending delivery to the governor. The bill would provide that a person may not be compelled to produce a private key or make a private key known to any other person in any civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding in the state that relates to a digital asset, digital identity, or other interest or right to which the private key provides access.
Business organization legislation
Alabama: Senate Bill 112 was introduced on 2/20/2024 to amend the Alabama Business and Nonprofit Entities Code. The bill would clarify that the location of a registered agent must be in the state and make other amendments to be consistent with Delaware law changes.
Utah: House Bill 318, which would amend the Decentralized Autonomous Organizations Act, passed the Senate on 2/16/2024 and is pending delivery to the governor. The amendments would provide that the Division of Corporations and Commercial Code does not issue a certificate of organization for such entities and modify the requirements for the name of such an organization.
Wyoming: Senate Bill 50, which would adopt the Wyoming Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act, passed the Senate on 2/22/2024. The Act provides for the formation and management of decentralized unincorporated nonprofit associations.
Notary legislation
Arizona: House Bill 2588, which would amend provisions of notary law, passed the House on 2/21/2024. The amendments to notary law include (i) requirements for a notary stamp; (ii) application requirements; (iii) electronic filing of notary applications and records with the secretary of state; and (iv) a requirement that notary applicants be fingerprinted and obtain a fingerprint clearance card.
Minnesota: Senate Bill 4137 was introduced on 2/21/2024 to authorize online notary signatures for healthcare directives.
Mississippi: Senate Bill 2546 was introduced on 2/16/2024 to amend the Revised Mississippi Uniform Law on Notarial Acts to (i) authorize a notary to certify a tangible copy of an electronic record; (ii) prescribe requirements for performing remote notarizations; (iii) prescribe requirements for identifying a person appearing before a notary remotely; and (iv) other related changes to the notary law. This appears similar to House Bill 1168, which was reported last week.
Mississippi: Senate Bill 2547 was introduced on 2/16/2024 to permit notarial officers to increase fees within parameters established by the secretary of state and authorize the commission of qualified non-residents as notaries public.
Virginia: Senate Bill 8, which would remove the oath requirement from the application for recommission of a notary, provided that the notary is in good standing and not subject to any investigation or proceeding, passed the House as amended on 2/21/2024 and was returned to the Senate for concurrence.
Wisconsin: Assembly Bill 1099 was introduced on 2/20/2024 to reconcile statutory inconsistencies with respect to a notary’s official stamp. The bill passed the Assembly on 2/22/2024 and is pending in the Senate.
Real estate recording-related legislation
California: Assembly Bill 2980 was introduced on 2/16/2024 to authorize a county recorder to index any record or amended record on a publicly accessible distributed ledger using blockchain technology.
Georgia: House Bill 1292 was introduced on 2/15/2024 to provide that a clerk of the superior court shall require an individual presenting a deed or other instrument purporting to convey title to real property for recording, either in person or electronically, to produce a government issued photo identification card.
Georgia: House Bill 1299 was introduced on 2/16/2024 to provide that if a deed, mortgage, or other lien of property is presented for recording by a party other than the holder of record, then the clerk shall hold the document for a 45-day waiting period and notify the record owner or deed holder that a subsequent conveyance has been presented. The clerk must record the document after no more than 45 days unless the record owner or deed holder notifies the clerk that the recordation is unauthorized. There are exceptions under certain circumstances but those require the submission of a notarized affidavit or power of attorney.
Minnesota: Senate Bill 4138 was introduced on 2/21/2024 and House Bill 4034 on 2/22/2024 to prohibit the recording of unfair service agreements made in connection with residential real property.
New Jersey: Senate Bill 2830 was filed on 2/22/2024 to establish certain protections against deed theft. Among other provisions, the bill provides that a federal, state, or local government entity may move for a stay of any proceeding to recover possession of or quiet title to real property relating to a residential dwelling unit or property if there is a pending good faith investigation into the theft or fraud in the title to, or the financing of, the premises that is the subject of the proceeding. In addition, the bill would allow the court to declare the instrument void.
Utah: Senate Bill 165, which would require that a county maintain a system for a property owner to elect to receive electronic notification when the county recorder records a deed or a mortgage on the owner’s property, passed the House on 2/16/2024 and is pending delivery to the governor.
Other items and legislation of interest
Maryland: House Bill 611, which would repeal the Electronic Transactions Protection Act, passed the House on 2/22/2024. The Act provides the attorney general with tools and enforcement authority to protect online privacy.
Mississippi: House Bill 1348 was introduced on 2/19/2024 to authorize the publication of certain legal notices formerly required to be published in a newspaper on the official web site of a county or municipality or if the county or municipality lacks an official web page, on its social media page.
Mississippi: House Bill 1518 was introduced on 2/19/2024 to define “legal tender” as a medium of exchange and “specie” to include coins having gold or silver content and gold or silver bullion. The bill further provides that specie and legal tender shall not be classified as personal property for tax purposes.
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Note that this update provides only a short summary of the listed bills, which are often lengthy and complex. It is not intended to include all potentially relevant provisions of each bill. For full details, please review the bill on the applicable state legislative web site.