S.B. 1533 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


S.B. 1533
By: Brimer
State Affairs
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), codified in Section 9 of the Business
and Commerce Code, allows the secretary of state to reject a filing by a
secured party if some of the requisite information is missing or cannot be
deciphered.  The International Association of Commercial Administrators
(IACA) has approved forms for filing under Section 9 of the UCC that are
designed to reduce errors by filing parties; however, some filing parties
prefer to submit non-standard forms.  Such documents are more difficult to
process, more likely to be rejected for the omission of requisite
information, and may result in indexing errors on the part of the filing
officer unable to decipher the filer's intent. 

The purposes of Senate Bill 1533 are to allow a filing office (with
limited exceptions, the secretary of state) to refuse to accept a record
that is not on the National Standard Form or a form approved by the IACA
used for filing a record, and to delete the graphic representation of the
form in the code. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the committee that  rulemaking authority is expressly
delegated to the secretary of state in SECTION 1 (Sec. 9.516(b)(1),
Business and Commerce Code) and also referenced in SECTION 2 (Sec. 9.521,
Business and Commerce Code) of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

Senate Bill 1533 amends Section 9.516 of the Business & Commerce Code to
provide that filing does not occur with respect to a record that a filing
officer refuses to accept because the record is not on an industry
standard form, including the National Standard Form or a form approved by
the International Association of Commercial Administrators, adopted by
rule by the secretary of state.  

The bill also amends Section 9.521 of the Business & Commerce Code to
provide that a filing office that accepts written records may not refuse
to accept a written initial financing statement or record on the National
Standard Form or a form approved by IACA and adopted by rule by the
secretary of state, except for a reason provided in Section 9.516(b),
Business and Commerce Code. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

January 1, 2004.