Today’s post and podcast is a brief look at the Commission on Uniform State Laws. If you listened to either of the podcasts by Jon Wainwright with Texas A&M Professors William Henning or Thomas Mitchell you may already be somewhat familiar with the work of the Commission.

https://soundcloud.com/capimpactca/commission-on-uniform-state-laws

The Uniform Law Commission is a non-profit that was established in 1892. The Commission is charged with providing states with well researched and drafted legislation to hopefully bring stability to different areas of law across all of the states. California created the CCUL – California Commission on Uniform State Laws – in 1897. It is tasked with representing California on the national Uniform Law Commission.

In 2012, the California Commission on Uniform States Laws was incorporated into the Office of Legislative Counsel. The Commission itself consists of one State Senator, one Assemblymember, six gubernatorial appointees, the Legislative Counsel herself, any person elected as a lifetime member of the National Commission, as well as any person who has served as Commissioner for the last five years. Commissioners serve at the pleasure of their appointing authorities and must be members in good standing of the State Bar. They can be admitted to practice in another state or be a judge in the state of California. The Commission meets at least once every two years, per California law, and must report to the California Legislature at a frequency the Commission deems practical.

There are numerous bills that have been promulgated by the Uniform Law Commission that are in effect in California. The laws range from adult guardianship in protective proceeding jurisdictions, to multiple articles of the Uniform Commercial Code, to durable powers of attorney, electronic transactions, wills, acts involving military and oversees voters, and premarital agreements among many others.

I cover more details about the national and California Uniform Law Commissions in today’s podcast.

You can find a full transcript of today’s podcast here.