Uniform Commercial Code being revised

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jun 8, 2001 by Carolynn Caudill

The final touches are being placed upon the Uniform Commercial Code's revisions to Article 9, the section referred to as Secured Transactions. The national revisions to Article 9, enacted in Oklahoma to take effect July 1, have been a work in progress for more than a decade, and these revisions will significantly alter the Oklahoma County Clerk's Filing Office's operations.

The revisions are the culmination of a series of events set in motion several years ago when the American Law Institute and National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws organized a national drafting committee to rewrite the UCC and a task force to review the work of the drafting committee.

In turn, each state organized similar task forces and committees to take the work of the National Drafting Committee and Task Force and apply it to the laws and requirements of each state. In Oklahoma the Uniform Laws Committee of the Oklahoma Bar Association has taken on the task of rewriting Oklahoma's UCC to reflect the proposed changes. In order to make the task more manageable, the OBA organized Financial Institutions and Commercial Law Section UCC Committee and its Article 9 Legislative Review Subcommittee.

The current chairman of the Legislative Review Committee, University of Oklahoma Law Professor Fredrick Miller, contacted my office about participating in the review of the proposed new UCC law that would be submitted to the Legislature for its consideration. The subcommittee considered my office's participation to be valuable because of the experience from years of receiving and filing UCC financing statements statewide.

I feel honored to involve my staff leadership in this process and am thankful these public servants have taken on this demanding new opportunity.

Prior to the introduction of Senate Bill 1519, my staff worked with Miller and Oklahoma Senate staff to draft the statutes covering filing under the code and addressed in Part 5 of UCC Article 9. After the passage of Senate Bill 1519, the Article 9 Legislative Review Subcommittee turned its attention to writing Oklahoma comments to Revised Article 9 for publication in West Publishing's statute books. The comments are designed to help practitioners and other users of the filing system interpret the statutes governing filing under the new UCC statutes.

I am pleased to be a part of the Article 9 Legislative Review Subcommittee and grateful for the opportunity to aid in the development of the Oklahoma UCC Central Filing System. Their courtesy and professionalism has made our participation not only an interesting but pleasurable experience. It is my sincere hope that our contributions to the Oklahoma comments will prove useful to those submitting UCC financing statements to the UCC Central Filing Office.

In addition to participating in drafting the Oklahoma comments, the Oklahoma County Clerk's Office has been participating in forums to assist our State with this transition. Members of the Oklahoma County Clerk's office have been presenters at numerous gatherings of UCC industry leaders and affected government offices.

I, along with Jim Roth, chief deputy and staff attorney to the Oklahoma County Clerk's Office, Gary Brownlee, UCC Director in the office, and Trey Box, Organizational Development Director for the office, have been canvassing the State to discuss the changes to the Article 9 UCC law taking effect July 1, 2001. Representatives from the Oklahoma County Clerk's Office have served as presenters and lecturers for several banks' training sessions, at continuing legal education seminars, and at county clerk educational schools. I have been thrilled by the success of these presentations and am grateful for the effort of the county staff to share their knowledge.

Although this subject matter can be a little less than exciting, the legal changes effecting secured transactions in Oklahoma are of great importance to all of us. Every consumer in our state may, whether knowingly or unknowingly, participate in a consumer lending transaction involving personal property, which will require adherence to the new law.

Please rest-assured that behind the scenes there has been and continues to be on-going efforts to educate and prepare lenders and businesses for compliance with the new UCC laws.

Carolynn Caudill is in her second term as Oklahoma County clerk. For more information, please visit the county clerk's Web site at www.oklahomacounty.org/countyclerk or call the county clerk's office at 713-1864.