Article 9 and lien-related legislation
No developments to report this week.
Other uniform laws legislation [includes the 2022 Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) with UCC Article 12—Controllable Electronic Records]
Alabama: House Bill 348, which would enact the 2022 Amendments to the UCC, passed the House on 5/9/2023 and is now pending in the Senate.
Montana: The Senate refused to concur in House amendments to Senate Bill 370, which would have enacted the 2022 Amendments to the UCC. The legislature adjourned before the bill could go to conference committee. As a result, Senate Bill 370 failed for this session.
Washington: The governor signed Senate Bill 5077 on 5/4/2023 to enact the 2022 Amendments to the UCC. The new law takes effect on 1/1/2024.
Emerging technology legislation (blockchain, distributed ledger technology, cryptocurrency, etc.)
Louisiana: Senate Bill 185, which would make changes to the license requirements and regulation of virtual currency businesses, passed the Senate on 5/8/2023 and is pending in the House Commerce Committee.
Oklahoma: The House refused to concur in Senate amendments to House Bill 1600 on 5/8/2023. This bill would adopt the Commercial Digital Asset Mining Act of 2023, which would provide tax incentives for commercial digital mining operations by treating them in the same manner as historic forms of manufacturing or industrial processing. The bill is pending conference committee.
Oklahoma: The Senate refused to concur in House amendments to Senate Bill 750 on 5/8/2023. Like House Bill 1600, this bill would adopt the Commercial Digital Asset Mining Act of 2023. The bill is pending conference committee.
Business organization legislation
Delaware: Senate Bill 114 was introduced on 5/4/2023 to make clarifications, technical changes, and other amendments to the General Business Corporations Law. The bill was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Georgia: The governor signed Senate Bill 148 on 5/2/2023 to comprehensively revise, simplify, and modernize the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code. The new law takes effect on 7/1/2023.
Notary legislation
Connecticut: Senate Bill 1040, which would authorize notaries to perform remote online notarial acts, passed the Senate on 5/11/2023 and is pending in the House.
Michigan: House Bill 4548 was introduced on 5/11/2023 to authorize an additional technology fee for online notarizations provided that the person who requests the notarial act agrees to the fee before the online notarization and the notary informs the person that the technology fee is separate from the notary fee and not specified or required by law. The bill was assigned to the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee.
Texas: House Bill 3657, which would make it an offense for a notary public to knowingly perform any notarization when the person for whom the notarization is performed did not personally appear at the time of the notarization, passed the House on 5/8/2023 and was assigned to the Senate State Affairs Committee. If enacted, the bill would make the offense a class A misdemeanor unless it involves the transfer of residential property, in which case it would be a felony.
Real estate recording-related legislation
Alabama: Senate Bill 228, which would prohibit the recording of unfair service agreements, passed the House on 5/9/2023 and is awaiting delivery to the governor. The bill would (i) prohibit the recording of an unfair service agreement; (ii) provide that a service provider who violates the prohibition is liable to the affected party for statutory damages of $10,000; and (iii) provide remedies for any person with an interest in the real property.
Connecticut: House Bill 6648, which would address online recording, passed the House on 5/10/2023. The bill would require the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to (i) establish a commission for the online recording, indexing, and searching of municipal land records and maps, and (ii) create and maintain an online database for the recording, indexing, and searching of municipal land records and maps. The bill is now pending in the Senate.
Georgia: The governor signed House Bill 444 on 5/4/2023 to repeal and replace certain sections of state law applicable to lis pendens. The bill expressly requires clerks to record lis pendens. The new law takes effect on 7/1/2023.
Illinois: Senate Bill 2227, which would revise the Recorder Division of the Counties Code, passed the House with amendments on 5/11/2023. The bill would make several changes to recording office duties. It would allow for storage of records in a database or a book and allow a recorder to accept copies of signatures without labeling them as copies. The bill would also update the predictable fee schedule for counties of the first, second and third classes. The bill is pending concurrence by the Senate.
Maryland: The governor signed Senate Bill 579 on 5/8/2023 to prohibit the recording of unfair service agreements and allow the recording office to reject any such unfair service agreements. The new law takes effect on 6/1/2023.
Montana: The governor signed Senate Bill 330 on 5/4/2023 to require that a county clerk, in the role of recorder, shall accept electronic notarizations completed in accordance with the state’s version of the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts. The new law takes effect on 10/1/2023.
Other items and legislation of interest
No developments to report.
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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.