Article 9 and Lien-Related Legislation
No developments to report this week.
Other Uniform Laws Legislation
No developments to report this week.
Emerging Technology Legislation (Blockchain, DLT, Cryptocurrency, etc.)
Colorado: SB 25, which would direct the state treasurer to study the use of security tokens for state capital financing, passed the House as amended on 5/10/2022. The bill defines “Security Token” to mean a digital, liquid contract made verifiable and secured through the use of blockchain technology that establishes its owner’s right to a fraction of a financial asset, such as stock, bond, or certificate of participation. The Senate concurred in the House amendments and the bill is now awaiting delivery to the governor.
Louisiana: HB 802, which would authorize banks to provide custodial services for digital assets, passed the House on 5/10/2022 and is now pending in the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and International Affairs Committee.
New Hampshire: HB 1503, which would exempt a developer, seller, or facilitator of the exchange of an open blockchain token from certain securities laws, is now in conference committee at the request of the House. The bill also includes House amendments to adopt UCC Article 12; Controllable Electronic Records, which has been drafted by Joint Committee on the UCC and Emerging Technologies of the ULC to govern controllable electronic records.
New York: Senate Bill 9275 was introduced on 5/12/2022 to require certain disclosures in advertisements involving “virtual tokens,” as that term is defined in the bill. The bill was assigned to the Senate Internet and Technology Committee. This bill appears similar to AB 9029, which was introduced in January.
Business Organization Legislation
Delaware: Senate Bill 284 was introduced on 5/5/2022 to make changes to the Statutory Trust Act. The bill was assigned to the Senate Banking, Business and Insurance Committee.
New Jersey: Assembly Bill 3856 was introduced on 5/9/2022 to provide that a court may hold certain members of a member-managed limited liability company, the managers of a manager-managed limited liability company, and the directors and officers of a corporation, jointly and severally liable for certain charges related to the lease of residential property owned by the entity. This would apply to members who hold 10% or more of the entity. The bill was assigned to the Assembly Housing Committee.
Notary Legislation
South Carolina: HB 5338, which would approve regulations promulgated by the secretary of state regarding electronic notarization, including the procedures and requirements for a person to become an electronic notary, passed the House on 5/6/2022 and is pending action in the Senate.
Real-Estate-Recording-Related Legislation
Colorado: Senate Bill 229, which would provide an additional circumstance where a public trustee may release a deed of trust without evidence that the original debt has been paid off, passed the House as amended on 5/10/2022 and was returned to the Senate for concurrence. This bill would provide that the holder of the original evidence of debt may request the release of a deed of trust without producing or exhibiting the original evidence of debt if the holder (i) agrees to indemnify and defend the public trustee against any claim for damages resulting from the action of the public trustee taken in accordance with the request; (ii) provides the public trustee a current address for the original grantor, assuming party, or current owner when requesting the release of the deed of trust; and (iii) files the request for the release of the deed of trust electronically via the county’s electronic recording system.
Georgia: The governor signed HB 974 on 5/2/2022 to address methods of recording with the superior court clerks. The new law requires that all clerks in the state offer the ability to record real estate documents electronically by 7/1/2023. However, the law does not mandate electronic recording.
South Carolina: SB 5150 was amended and then passed the Senate on 4/28/2022. The amendments would require any county that meets certain criteria to use the local government fund to implement an electronic or e-filing system in the county’s Register of Deeds Office for the recording of documents and for payment of associated fees. The Register of Deeds would monitor, utilize, and maintain the system.The House concurred in the Senate amendments on 5/11/2022 and added more amendments to which the Senate refused to concur. The bill is pending conference committee.
Vermont: HB 512, which would create an office within the secretary of state to manage municipal land records, passed the Senate as amended on 5/11/2022. The new office would be responsible for the implementation and utilization of modern methods, techniques, equipment, documentation, and training to improve the quality of such records and help to achieve a high degree of standardization throughout the State. The bill also adopts the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act (URPERPA). The House concurred in the Senate amendments the same day and the bill is now pending delivery to the governor.
Other Items/Legislation of Interest
No developments to report this week.
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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.