Meeting Notice
California Commission on Uniform State Laws
State Capitol, Room 3021
Sacramento, California 95814
916/341-8005
916/341-8020
Meeting of the California Commission on Uniform State Laws
Date: October 20, 2015
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Office of Legislative Counsel
Bion M. Gregory Conference Room
925 L Street, Lower Level
Sacramento, CA 95814
1. Introductions
2. Adoption of minutes
a. October 7, 2014
b. July 13, 2015
3. Election of officers:
a. Chair
b. Vice Chair
4. Update on legislation from 2015
5. Update on review by the California Law Revision Commission of the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act (2005)
6. Consideration of uniform acts for introduction in 2016
a. High-level review of targeted act list
i. Uniform Collaborative Law Act
ii. Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act
iii. Uniform Emergency Volunteer Healthcare Practitioners Act
iv. Uniform Power of Attorney Act
v. Uniform Powers of Appointment Act
vi. Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking
vii. Uniform Unsworn Foreign Declarations Act
b. Discussion of Final Acts from 2015 Annual Meeting
i. Uniform Home Foreclosure Procedures Act
ii. Revised Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act
iii. Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act
iv. Uniform Recognition and Enforcement of Canadian Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act
v. Revised Uniform Athlete Agents Act
vi. Uniform Trust Decanting Act
vii. Revised Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015)
7. 2017 Annual Meeting – San Diego
Additional information: Contact Sharon Brumley, Administrative Assistant, at (916) 341-8101. Agenda items may be deleted, or the meeting may be rescheduled, on short notice. If you plan to attend the meeting, please leave contact information with Ms. Brumley and you will be notified of late changes.
Minutes
Meeting of the California Commission on Uniform State Laws
October 20, 2015 -10:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
Meeting Location:
Office of Legislative Counsel
Bion M. Gregory Conference Room
925 L Street, Lower Level
Sacramento, California 95814
Present: Commissioner Pam Bertani, Commissioner Rob Bonta, Commissioner Diane Boyer-Vine, Commissioner Marty Carr, Commissioner Dave Clark, Commissioner Bob Cornell, Commissioner Elena Duarte, Commissioner Elihu Harris, Commissioner Dan Robbins, Commissioner Fred Rowley, Commissioner Nathaniel Sterling,
Absent: Commissioner Hannah-Beth Jackson and Commissioner Byron Sher
Interested parties: Becca Cramer, representing ACLU of California, Hope Kwiatkowski representing ACLU of California, Jonathon Tayler, representing ACLU of California, Benjamin Palmer, Senate Judiciary Committee, Tara Welch, Senate Judiciary Committee, Lee Tien, representing Electronic Frontier Foundation, Samantha Corbin, representing Corbin & Kaiser and Saul Bercovitch, representing the State Bar of California.
Chairman Dan Robbins called the meeting to order. Mr. Robbins asked for a roll call of the California Commission and determined that a quorum was present.
Agenda Item 1 - Introductions
The Commissioners introduced themselves. Diane Boyer-Vine introduced her assistant, Sharon Brumley, who would be the note taker for the meeting.
Dan Robbins asked if there were any guests that would like to introduce themselves. Becca Cramer, representing ACLU of California introduced herself. Hope Kwiatkowski and Jonathon Tayler, interns with the ACLU introduced themselves.
Agenda Item 2 – Adoption of Minutes for October 7, 2014 and July 13. 2015.
The minutes for July 13, 2015 were approved as read.
Nat Sterling pointed out that the October 7, 2014 minutes had two minor errors, one being at the top of page 5 where there was an “s” missing on the word in the title of the act, “Uniform Voidable Transaction Act”. The word “Transaction” should be plural and read “Transactions”. Also in the last paragraph of the minutes regarding adjournment, the voting record needed to be added and the time of adjournment moved to the end of the sentence. Diane Boyer-Vine moved to approve the October 7, 2015 minutes as revised. The motion was seconded by Nat Sterling. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Rob Bonta was not present when this decision was made.
Agenda Item 3 - Election of officers
Dan Robbins mentioned that historically the practice has been to rotate the chair by seniority. Dave Clark would be the person to move into the position of Chair. Elihu Harris moved to nominate Dave Clark to the position of Chair and Marty Carr seconded the motion. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Rob Bonta was not present when this decision was made.
Diane Boyer-Vine moved to nominate Marty Carr to the position of Vice Chair. The motion was seconded by Dan Robbins. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Rob Bonta was not present when this decision was made.
Agenda Item 4 – Update on legislation from 2015
Diane Boyer-Vine gave an overview of the following bills.
SB 646 – Uniform Interstate Family Support Act. This bill was authored by Senator Jackson and was chaptered into law on October 4, 2015.
SB 161 – Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. Ms. Boyer-Vine mentioned that this bill was authored by Senator Vidak and virtually was unopposed through the legislative process. The bill was chaptered into law on July 2, 2015.
Agenda Item 5 – Update on review by the California Law Revision Commission of the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act (2005).
Diane Boyer-Vine stated that the California Law Revision Commission is required by SB 406 enacted in 2014 to review the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act. SB 406 specifically requires the California Law Revision Commission to conduct a study of the standards for recognition for both a tribal court and foreign court money judgments. The Commission is required to report back to the Legislature by January 1, 2017. The Assembly Judiciary Committee had expressed concern whether the grounds for non-recognition were sufficient to show fairness and adequate due process with respect to California law.
Agenda Item 6 – Consideration of uniform acts for introduction in 2016
a. High-level review of targeted act list.
1. Uniform Collaborative Law Act – Katie Robinson thought that this act was one that California should look at. Bob Cornell stated he was happy to try it here but the Judiciary Committee was not receptive to this act. Nat Sterling stated that he also received negative feedback from the Assembly Judiciary Committee. After discussion no action was taken by the commission.
2. Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act – Marty Carr stated the CCUSL had sought an author and he and Diane had been called to the Assembly Judiciary Committee to talk about the Act. Marty Carr stated that California had recently legislated in this area. The Judiciary staff raised one concern regarding whether the newly enacted California law conflicted with the uniform act. Marty Carr took that concern to the staff at the Uniform Law Commission. The ULC staff did not think this was a conflict. After discussion the commissioners agreed that no action would be taken by the California Commission.
3. Uniform Emergency Volunteer Healthcare Practitioners Act – Diane Boyer-Vine gave a short history of this Act and after a discussion the Commissioners agreed that this act has already been thoroughly covered in California and there is no need for any further action by the commission.
4. Uniform Power of Attorney Act – Nat Sterling stated that the State Bar of California thought that there were some interesting parts of this Act, but did not support the uniform act generally. No further action was taken by the commission.
5. Uniform Powers of Appointment Act – This Act was introduced in a bill authored by Assembly Member Bonta, but later died in committee. No further action was taken by the commission.
6. Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking Act – Elena Duarte pointed out that California has extensive laws regarding human trafficking. Marty Carr stated that a bill was introduced by Senator Yee that did not pass. Elihu Harris moved to have Marty Carr assist Assembly Member Bonta with information on this act as it relates to pending legislation in California. Diane Boyer-Vine seconded the motion. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Rob Bonta was not in the room when this vote was taken.
7. Uniform Unsworn Foreign Declarations Act – Diane Boyer-Vine gave a short explanation and history of this Act. After a discussion among the commissioners it was decided that a majority of this Act does not apply to California. There was no action taken by the commission.
b. Discussion of Final Acts from 2015 Annual Meeting
i. Uniform Home Foreclosure Procedures Act – Diane Boyer-Vine gave an overview of this Act. She stated that the Uniform Law Commission Act applies only to residential mortgages. California has a very robust home foreclosure law and that there were 32 recent enactments that relate to foreclosures. Elihu Harris wondered if the statute was on the California Law Revision Commission agenda. Diane Boyer-Vine answered that the topic has not been on the CLRC agenda in the last 10 years. Marty Carr made a motion to not seek an author. Pam Bertani seconded the motion but after more discussion there was no vote taken. Nat Sterling mentioned that it was not necessary to have a formal motion to not seek an author.
ii. Revised Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act – Diane Boyer-Vine gave an extensive overview of this Act listing the provisions of the act and whether California already had laws relating to the subject. Marty Carr mentioned that in speaking with members of the Uniform Law Commission in Chicago, he found that they agreed that California does not need this act. Mr. Carr did not think it was necessary for the Commission to try to seek an author. There was no action taken by the commission.
iii. Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act – Diane Boyer-Vine gave a brief overview of this Act and discussed the differences and similarities of this act compared to California law. Dave Clark asked if there was any further discussion on this act. There was none and no action was required or taken by the commission.
iv. Uniform Recognition and Enforcement of Canadian Domestic Violence Act – Bob Cornell gave an extensive overview of this Act. Mr. Cornell suggested checking with Uniform Law Commission in Chicago to get input on what are some of the problems solved by with this Act and who is supporting this Act.
Diane Boyer-Vine pointed out that the Legislature would want to understand what the need is for this Act. Dan Robbins mentioned that California is increasingly global and reciprocity would be good.
Saul Bercovitch, representing the State Bar of California, stated he would refer this Act to the family law section for review.
A motion was made and seconded that Commissioners Bob Cornell, Marty Carr and Fred Rowley identify the stake holders, talk with them, and eventually work with the Chair, Dave Clark, and Diane Boyer-Vine to move this Act and seek an author. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Rob Bonta was not present when this vote was taken.
v. Revised Uniform Athlete Agents Act – Diane Boyer-Vine gave a short overview of this Act. Ms. Boyer-Vine pointed out that this Act is based on what we currently do in California. There was no need for action by the commission.
vi. Uniform Trust Decanting Act – Dave Clark gave an overview of the Act. He mentioned that this Act passed unanimously at the Uniform Law Commission meeting. Saul Bercovitch, representing the State Bar of California, brought up the issue of virtual representation which is a concern of the State Bar committee reviewing the Act.
Dave Clark made a motion to seek an author seconded by Elena Duarte. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. Commissioners Elihu Harris, Marty Carr and Rob Bonta were not present when this vote was taken.
vii. Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (2015) - Dan Robbins gave an overview of this Act. Mr. Robbins pointed out that there are an increasing number of assets stored online. Today Americans have a large number of online accounts and passwords which makes it very difficult for fiduciaries to find these accounts and disperse the funds to the heirs.
Fred Rowley recused himself from discussion of the RUFADAA (2015).
There was extensive discussion among the Commissioners, legislative staff, and the stakeholders regarding RUFADAA (2015).
A motion was made by Dave Clark and seconded by Pam Bertani to seek an author for RUFADAA (2015) minus the conservatorship provisions. The vote was as follows: Yes (5): Dave Clark, Pam Bertani, Elena Duarte, Marty Carr and Dan Robbins. No (1) Nat Sterling. Abstain (3) Bob Cornell, Diane Boyer-Vine, and Fred Rowley. Commissioners Elihu Harris and Rob Bonta were not present when this vote was taken.
A second motion was made by Marty Carr and seconded by Dan Robbins to authorize the Commissioners to use their discretion to advance the goals and purposes of RUFADAA in the most effective way possible with the understanding that major decisions reflecting non-uniformity should be run through the Chair and Vice Chair. The vote was as follows: Yes (5) Dave, Clark, Pam Bertani, Elena Duarte, Marty Carr and Dan Robbins. No (1) Nat Sterling. Abstained (3) Diane Boyer-Vine, Bob Cornell, and Fred Rowley. Commissioners Rob Bonta and Elihu Harris were not present when this vote was taken.
7. 2017 Annual Meeting – San Diego. An update of the Commission’s responsibilities for the San Diego 2017 Annual Meeting was discussed. The Office of Legislative Counsel will provide the audio visual (AV) support for the meeting.
Elena Duarte will help with soliciting a keynote speaker for the 2017 Annual Meeting.
Pam Bertani will work to obtain donations for the goodie bags.
Dan Robbins stated that he has opened an account for fund raising which now has a balance of $10,000.00.
As there was no further business to discuss, Dave Clark moved to adjourn the meeting at 2:34 p.m. The motion was seconded by Elena Duarte. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon Brumley