70 The Alabama Lawyer 454 (2009). Alabama Attorneys Complete Work at Annual Uniform Law Conference.

• Author: BY REPRESENTATIVE CAM WARD

The Alabama Lawyer

2009.

70 The Alabama Lawyer 454 (2009).

Alabama Attorneys Complete Work at Annual Uniform Law Conference

Alabama Attorneys Complete Work at Annual Uniform Law ConferenceBY REPRESENTATIVE CAM WARDAs they've done each summer since 1982, uniform law commissioners gathered for a full week to discuss - and debate line by line and word by word - legislative proposals drafted by their colleagues during the year. Once again, commissioners from Alabama were heavily involved in the debate of new acts approved by the conference.

This year, the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), at its 118th Annual Meeting in Santa Fe, approved five new acts dealing with issues ranging from a new law that addresses the various penalties and disqualifications that individuals might face incidental to criminal sentencing to a new act regulating the non-probate transfer of real property upon an owner's death.

The ULC has worked for the uniformity of state laws since 1892. It was originally created by state governments to consider state law, determine in which areas of the law uniformity is important and then draft uniform and model acts for consideration by the states. For well over a century, the ULC's work has brought consistency, clarity and stability to state statutory law.

Uniform law commissioners are appointed by every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The commissioners draft proposals for uniform laws on issues where disparity between the states is a problem.

Alabama commissioners Jerry Bassett, Bill Henning, former Chief Justice Gorman Houston, Tom Jones, state Senator Ted Little, Bob McCurley, Bruce McKee, state Representative Cam Ward, and Joe Colquit attended the meeting along with more than 200 lawyers, judges, law professors, legislators, and government attorneys appointed in their respective jurisdictions to serve as uniform law commissioners.

The five acts recently approved by the ULC and now available for state enactment include:

The Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act addresses the various penalties and disqualifications that individuals face incidental to criminal sentencing, which are often known as "collateral consequences" and include such penalties as disqualification from voting, prohibitions from running for office, exclusion from certain types of...