Resolution Celebrating the Adoption of Texas’ Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act

Approved at the Business Meeting, July 2019

WHEREAS, House Bill 402 relating to the adoption of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) was signed into law on May 24, 2019, effective September 1, 2019; and

WHEREAS, the American Association of Law Libraries believes that permanent public access to official, authentic legal information is critical to the legal system of the United States; and

WHEREAS, UELMA provides a technology-neutral, outcomes-based approach to ensuring that online state legal material designated as official will be authenticated, preserved, and made permanently available to the public in unaltered form; and

WHEREAS, UELMA promotes access to justice by ensuring access to trustworthy primary legal materials; and

WHEREAS, members of the American Association of Law Libraries and its chapters, including the Dallas Association of Law Librarians, Houston Area Law Librarians, and Southwestern Association of Law Libraries, strongly advocated for UELMA’s adoption in Texas; and

WHEREAS, Representative Senfronia Thompson and Senator Judith Zaffirini were instrumental in sponsoring the bill and advocating for its passage; therefore, be it,

RESOLVED, that the American Association of Law Libraries hereby expresses sincere thanks and appreciation for the leadership and commitment of Representative Senfronia Thompson and Senator Judith Zaffirini to enacting UELMA in Texas.