Article 9 and lien-related legislation
Colorado: Senate Bill 25 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to change the filing location for a chattel mortgage on a motor vehicle from the county where the vehicle resides to any county within the state.
Maryland: Senate Bill 150 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to address recording requirements (see more in the real estate recording section below). Curiously, it refers to former uniform commercial code (UCC) Article 9 § 9-402(9) for the indication that a financing statement is to be filed in the real estate records.
New York: Assembly Bill 1227 was introduced on 1/9/2025 to create a lien against the real and personal property of a commercial towing company for violations associated with illegal or improper practices related to the towing of motor vehicles. A notice of lien must be filed within three years of the violation by filing a financing statement in the office designated by UCC § 9-501.
Virginia: House Bill 1913 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to amend UCC § 9-502 to modify the duties of the clerk when indexing a record of mortgage as a fixture filing at the circuit court. The bill contains other amendments related to indexing and fees for real estate records.
Other uniform laws legislation (includes the 2022 amendments to the UCC with UCC Article 12-Controllable Electronic Records)
Illinois: House Bill 30 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to adopt the 2014 Uniform Voidable Transactions Act.
North Dakota: Senate Bill 2127 was introduced on 1/7/2025 to enact the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Document Act. It authorizes the use of electronic records, signatures, and notarizations for estate planning documents.
Emerging technology legislation (blockchain, distributed ledger technology, cryptocurrency, etc.)
Indiana: House Bill 1156 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to prohibit a county, municipality, or township from adopting or enforcing an ordinance that would have the effect of prohibiting, restricting, or impairing an individual’s or a business’s ability to: (1) use digital assets to purchase legal goods and services; (2) accept digital assets as a method of payment for legal goods and services; (3) use a hardware wallet or self-hosted wallet to store the individual’s or business’s digital assets; (4) take custody of digital assets by using a hardware wallet or self-hosted wallet; or (5) operate a node for the purpose of connecting to a blockchain protocol and participating in the blockchain protocol’s operations. The bill also provides that use of a property for a digital asset mining business is a permitted industrial use under any applicable zoning ordinance and may not be disallowed by a zoning ordinance in a zoning district that permits industrial use. It also prohibits a government unit from applying zoning ordinances in specified ways to regulate digital asset mining.
New Hampshire: House Bill 302 (LSR 700) was introduced on 1/8/2025 to enable the state treasurer to invest state funds into precious metals and digital assets.
North Dakota: House Bill 1184 was introduced on 1/7/2025 to authorize the state treasurer and certain state boards to invest up to 10% of the funds under management in precious metals and digital assets.
Business organization legislation
Hawaii: Senate Bill 24 was pre-filed on 1/8/2025 to provide for the formation of Limited Profit Housing Associations. Such associations business activities will be limited to primarily construct, rehabilitate, and manage affordable housing.
Maryland: House Bill 144 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to authorize the formation of limited worker cooperative associations and establish rules and procedures for the formation, governance, conversion, and dissolution of limited worker cooperative associations.
Nevada: Senate Bill 395 was pre-filed on 1/3/2025 to require a corporation, LLC, or other entity that acquires residential real property to register in a registry of entities that own residential real property to be established and maintained by the secretary of state. The bill also limits the aggregate number of residential property units that a corporation, LLC, or other entity may purchase in a year to no more than 1,000 units. The bill includes deed recording requirements explained in the Real Estate Recording section below.
South Dakota: House Bill 1024 was pre-filed on 1/8/2025 to increase the fees charged by the secretary of state for filing annual reports from $50 to $55 and from $25 to $30 for amended annual reports. The bill also makes technical changes to the fee provisions.
Virginia: House Bill 1796 was pre-filed on 1/6/2025 to enact the Virginia Decentralized Autonomous Organization Act, which provides for the formation, governance and regulation of such entities.
Notary legislation
Connecticut: Senate Bill 204 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to expand the use of remote online notarization. Full text of the bill is not available yet.
Missouri: House Bill 83 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to set forth requirements for the use of electronic and remote notary for estate planning documents.
New York: Assembly Bill 969 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to require that banks and credit unions have a notary public available on the premises during regular business hours. Similar bills were introduced in the 2023-2024 session but they did not advance out of committee.
Texas: Senate Bill 693 was pre-filed on 1/3/2025 to provide that a person commits a class A misdemeanor if the person knowingly uses a counterfeit notary seal or affixes a notary seal to a presumed fraudulent document or instrument and attempts to file or record the document or instrument with a government office.
Virginia: House Bill 1889 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to clarify the residency requirements for an applicant to perform remote notarial acts.
Real estate recording-related legislation
Kentucky: House Bill 142 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to provide for expedited removal of squatters and other remedies for property owners. The bill also makes the fraudulent sale or lease of real property a felony.
Kentucky: Senate Bill 70 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to increase the recording fees a county clerk shall charge by $1. The additional dollar is to be paid into the property research fund established by the bill.
Maryland: House Bills 154 and 164 were introduced on 1/8/2025 to prohibit a person from possessing or claiming a right to possess residential real property the person does not lawfully possess or own. The bills also provide an expedited process for the owner to remove such persons from the property.
Maryland: House Bill 202 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to make it a felony for a person, with intent to defraud, to claim to sell or convey or attempt to sell or convey real property that the grantor does not own or have sufficient authority to transfer. It also applies to leases and attempts to obtain a deed by deception, intimidation, or undue influence.
Maryland: Senate Bill 150 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to make changes to the margin and other format requirements for documents to be recorded. It also fails to correct a reference to former UCC Article 9 § 9-402(9) for indication that a financing statement is to be filed in the real estate records.
Montana: Senate Bill 101 was introduced on 1/6/2025 to create the offense of unlawful squatting and the offense of fraudulent sale or lease of property. The bill also provides a process for removal of the person from the property.
Nebraska: Legislative Bill 7 was introduced on 1/9/2025 to revise restrictions on foreign acquisition of real property.
Nevada: Senate Bill 395 was pre-filed on 1/3/2025 to provide that if an entity purchases residential real property, the deed must: (1) be accompanied by a copy of the certificate of registration issued by the secretary of state; and (2) clearly set forth that the residential real property is not the primary residence of the owner. The bill also prohibits the county recorder from recording the deed unless the deed: (1) contains information about the ownership of the purchasing entity, as set forth in the registry; and (2) clearly sets forth that the residential real property is not the primary residence of the owner.
New Hampshire: Senate Bill 42 was introduced on 1/9/2025 to require the beneficiaries of a transfer on death deed to record a notice of death affidavit within 60 days of the transferor’s death.
New York: Assembly Bill 1452 was introduced on 1/9/2025 to prohibit the acquisition of real property by foreign countries and entities of particular concern. The prohibition would also apply to an individual who is a citizen of a country or member of an entity of particular concern as identified by the U.S. Department of State.
New York: Senate Bill 1082 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to create the New York Title Guarantee Program. The bill would establish the New York Title Guarantee Corporation to offer the title guarantees.
Oklahoma: Senate Bill 385 was pre-filed on 1/7/2025 to increase penalties for executing or recording a deed where the grantor lacked bona fide color of title if such instrument clouds the title of real estate allotted to a member of the Osage Nation.
Utah: House Bill 108 was pre-filed on 1/6/2025 to amend the definition of “deed” for purposes of the Fraudulent Deed Act. The amendments would carve certain documents out of the definition.
Utah: House Bill 126 was pre-filed on 1/7/2025 to create remedies for homeowners to immediately recover their property against unlawful trespassers. The bill would also impose criminal penalties for any person who knowingly and willfully presents a false document purporting to be a valid lease agreement, deed, or other instrument conveying real property rights; and for fraudulently listing or advertising for sale, or renting or leasing, residential real property under certain circumstances.
Utah: House Bill 151 was pre-filed on 1/9/2025 to require a purchaser to sign an affidavit of intent to occupy when buying a single-family home within the first 30 days after the single-family home is on the market. The purchaser must record the affidavit of intent to occupy with the county recorder within seven days of execution. There are exceptions for certain circumstances.
Virginia: House Bill 1913 was introduced on 1/8/2025 with amendments related to indexing and fees for real estate records. See also Article 9 and Lien-Related Legislation section above.
Virginia: House Bill 2396 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to require localities to establish a property alert notification system in the local land records office that allows a person to enroll real property owned by the person in the system. The property alert notification system would notify the enrolled owner of the recording of any document describing, affecting, or purporting to affect the enrolled property.
Other items and legislation of interest
Missouri: House Bill 733 was introduced on 1/8/2025 to adopt the Constitutional Money Act. The bill provides that specie and electronic currency shall be accepted as legal tender for private debts at the discretion of the receiving party. “Specie” is defined to include bullion shaped and of a weight that makes it suitable for use of currency but excludes any specie that contains recognizable insignia, symbols or logos of the Nazi party.
Utah: House Bill 99 was pre-filed on 1/6/2025 to restrict the use of consumer report information to contact the consumer for solicitations to market mortgage loan services.
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 website.
