National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

211 E. Ontario St., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60611
tel 312-915-0195, fax 312-915-0187

For Immediate Release

ABA APPROVES SEVEN NCCUSL ACTS
New Act on Mediation Among Acts Approved

February 6, 2002— Seven uniform acts, dealing with issues ranging from confidentiality in mediation to regulation of athlete agents, were approved by the American Bar Association's House of Delegates at its Midyear Meeting in Philadelphia, January 30 - February 5. Each uniform act was drafted and approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL).

Among the acts approved is the Uniform Mediation Act, approved by NCCUSL in 2001. The increasing use of mediation by individuals and businesses has been accompanied by an increasing number of statutes dealing with mediation issues. Current rules on mediation can be found in more than 2,500 state statutes; more than 250 of these deal with issues of confidentiality and privileges alone. Many of these statutes can be replaced by the new uniform act, which has more general rules on confidentiality and privilege. The Act establishes an evidentiary privilege for mediators and participants in mediation that applies in later legal proceedings. It also provides a confidentiality obligation for mediators.

The Uniform Athlete Agents Act, approved by NCCUSL in 2000, governs relations among athlete agents, student athletes and educational institutions. The act protects the interests of student athletes and academic institutions by regulating the activities of athlete agents. The act provides for the uniform registration, certification, and background check of sports agents seeking to represent student athletes. The act also imposes specified contract terms on these agreements to the benefit of student athletes, and provides educational institutions with a right to notice along with a civil cause of action for damages resulting from a breach of specified duties. This act has already been adopted in 13 jurisdictions, and is currently pending in 12 states.

The Uniform Consumer Leases Act is the first comprehensive act designed to regulate consumer goods leasing transactions. In recent decades the leasing of consumer goods has become an increasingly popular alternative to credit sales, but consumer protection laws for lease transactions are limited. The act covers leases of consumer goods for terms longer than four months and less than $150,000. It assures fair practices in consumer leasing. It was approved by NCCUSL in 2001.

The Uniform Limited Partnership Act, last amended in 1985 and adopted in 49 states, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands, has been completely revised to adapt the act to new uses. The 2001 revision recognizes modern-day uses of limited partnerships by providing greater organizational flexibility and protection for the partnership from dissolution. The changes also were needed to keep pace with the evolution of other related laws, including NCCUSL's Uniform Partnership Act, which was promulgated in 1997. The use of limited partnerships has shifted with time from businesses to family limited partnerships used in estate planning.

Amendments (2001) to the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), last amended in 1996 and adopted in every state, were also approved. UIFSA provides universal and uniform rules for the enforcement of family support orders. The purpose of UIFSA is to ensure that state borders are not obstacles for collecting child support from reluctant parents obligated to pay. UIFSA assures that, whenever possible, only one child support order from one state will be in effect at any given time. The Amendments are meant to enhance the basic objectives of the original act. Some of the changes include expanding the definition of "state" so other countries may have their orders enforced in the U.S. under the terms of UIFSA.

Amendments (2001) to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 1 were approved. UCC Article 1, the general provisions section of the UCC, was amended to harmonize with ongoing UCC projects and recent revisions. Among the changes is a new scope provision, which states that the substantive rules of Article 1 apply only to transactions governed by other articles of the UCC. The Uniform Commercial Code is a joint project of the NCCUSL and the American Law Institute.

A new act designed to curtail money laundering by creating strong licensing mechanisms that will deter businesses that engage in money laundering and illegal activity from conducting business in a state was also approved. The Uniform Money Services Act, approved by NCCUSL in 2000, facilitates and enhances enforcement of existing money laundering provisions, and provides a framework for dealing with money laundering issues unique to nondepository providers of financial services.

Each act is available for introduction and adoption by all the states. The ABA is customarily asked to endorse uniform acts promulgated by NCCUSL. Information on each of these acts is available at NCCUSL's website at www.nccusl.org.

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is now in its 111th year. The organization comprises more than 300 lawyers, judges, and law professors, appointed by the states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to draft proposals for uniform and model laws and work toward their enactment in their legislatures. Since its inception in 1892, the group has promulgated more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Partnership Act.

For further information, please contact John McCabe, Michael Kerr, or Katie Robinson at 312-915-0195, or Gabrielle Bamberger at 212-333-5222.