In June 2007, after participating in AALL’s national summit on Authentic Legal Information in the Digital Age, Minnesota Revisor of Statutes and Uniform Law Commissioner Michele Timmons submitted a proposal to the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), then known as National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), to create a study committee to explore the complex issues regarding digital authentication. In February 2008, ULC informed AALL that it had approved the Study Committee on Online Authentication of Legal Materials to investigate the issues and discuss the feasibility of creating a uniform law or model act. Timmons was named chair of the Study Committee and Barbara A. Bintliff served as AALL’s observer.
During NCCUSL’s July 2009 annual conference, the Executive Committee unanimously approved the Study Committee’s recommendation to create a Drafting Committee on Authentication and Preservation of Electronic State Legal Materials. Timmons was named chair of the Drafting Committee, Barbara A. Bintliff served as the committee’s reporter, and Keith Ann Stiverson was AALL’s observer. In July 2011, NCCUSL approved the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act at its Annual Meeting in Vail, Colorado.
For more information about the Act, please visit the Uniform Law Commission’s UELMA page.