95th Annual Meeting
Wednesday, May 23

Daily Update - Wednesday, May 23

The first project on the final day of this year’s Annual Meeting was Government Ethics. Reporter Richard Briffault, and Associate Reporters Kathleen Clark and Richard W. Painter were joined on the dais by Council member John B. Bellinger III. Presented for membership approval was Tentative Draft No. 2, which contains Chapter 2, Gifts from and Financial Relationships with Prohibited Sources, and four Sections of Chapter 5, Post-Government Employment Restrictions.

Actions Taken*
Membership voted to approve Tentative Draft No. 2.

The second project discussed on Wednesday was Amendments to UCC Articles 1, 3, 8, and 9. Project Reporter Steven L. Harris, Drafting Committee Chair Edwin E. Smith, and ALI Council member Steven O. Weise, who serves as an ALI designee on the Permanent Editorial Board, were joined on the dais by Council member Teresa Wilton Harmon to discuss Tentative Draft No. 1. The draft contains amendments to Articles 1, 3, 8, and 9, considering in detail the substance of the rules that would govern rights with respect to electronic mortgage notes and related mortgage notes. A separate set of amendments in the draft would revise §§ 9-406 and 9-408 on anti-assignment overrides.

Actions Taken*
Membership voted to approve Tentative Draft No. 1. These Amendments must also be approved by the Uniform Law Commission at its annual meeting in July 2018. If approved by the ULC, the Drafting Committee plans to seek enactment of amendments to Articles 1, 3, 8, and 9 in the states only if and when the federal Repository Act is adopted. This will not affect the enactment of the amendments to §§ 9-406 and 9-408.

Meeting attendees gathered for lunch, where Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, talked about the role of legal advocacy in racial justice. When introducing Mr. Stevenson to the group, ALI Director Richard L. Revesz highlighted Mr. Stevenson’s tireless efforts in racial justice and criminal justice reform.

                 

The last project of this year’s Annual Meeting was Children and the Law, marking the project’s first appearance at an Annual Meeting. Reporter Elizabeth S. Scott, and Associate Reporters Clare Huntington and Solangel Maldonado were joined on the dais by Council member Wallace Jefferson. Tentative Draft No. 1 includes five Sections of Children in Families (parents’ duty to provide economic support, parental authority and responsibility for medical care, physical abuse, parental privilege to use reasonable corporal punishment, and medical neglect) and four Sections of Children in the Justice System dealing with the interrogation of juveniles.

Actions Taken*
Membership voted to approve Tentative Draft No. 1.

*All approvals by membership at the Annual Meeting are subject to the discussion at the Meeting and usual editorial prerogative.