AB111: Bill Text

LRB-2160/1

PJD:kmg:ch

2001 - 2002 LEGISLATURE

2001 Assembly BILL 111

February 8, 2001 - Introduced by Representatives Cullen and Gundrum, cosponsored by Senators Huelsman and George. Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions.

AB111,2,13 An Act to repeal 402.326 (3), 411.303 (3), 411.307 (2) (b) and (c) and 411.307 (4); to renumber 402.210 (3), 402.210 (4), 402.210 (5), 402.502 (2) and 411.303 (6), (7) and (8); to renumber and amend 402.502 (1), 408.110 (5) (b), 408.110 (5) (c), 408.110 (5) (d), 408.301 (1) (c), 408.510 (3), 411.303 (4) and 411.303 (5); to consolidate, renumber and amend 411.307 (2) (intro.) and (a); to amend 30.57 (3), 30.57 (5), 30.57 (6), 30.57 (7), 30.57 (8), 30.573 (1), 30.573 (2), 30.576 (1), 50.05 (15) (f), 51.42 (3) (d) 12. f., 59.43 (1) (L), 59.43 (1) (m), 59.43 (1) (n), 59.43 (1) (o), 59.43 (2) (ag) 2., 59.43 (2) (d), 100.201 (2) (d), 100.201 (2) (e) 1., 101.9213 (2), 101.9213 (4), 101.9213 (5), 101.9213 (6), 101.9213 (7), 101.9215 (1), 101.9215 (2), 101.9218 (1), 101.9222 (5) (b), 109.09 (2) (b) 2., 138.09 (7) (i) 2., 340.01 (56m), 340.01 (56n), 342.19 (2), 342.19 (3), 342.19 (4), 342.19 (5), 342.19 (6), 342.21 (1), 342.21 (2), 342.24, 344.185 (3) (intro.), 401.201 (9), 401.201 (32), 401.201 (37) (a), 402.103 (3) (d), 402.326 (title), 402.326 (2), 402.502 (title), 402.716 (3), 406.102 (1), 406.102 (2), 407.503 (1) (a), 408.103 (6), 408.106 (4) (a) and (b), 408.106 (6), 408.110 (5) (a), 408.302 (1), 408.510 (1), 411.103 (3) (a), 411.103 (3) (d), 411.103 (3) (e), 411.103 (3) (f), 411.103 (3) (h), 411.103 (3) (j), 411.103 (3) (L), 411.103 (3) (m), 411.303 (1) and (2), 411.309 (1) (c), 421.301 (21), 422.413 (2r) (intro.), 422.413 (2r) (f), 425.105 (4), 425.203 (3) (intro.), 425.204 (2), 425.207 (2), 425.208 (6), 779.48 (2), 779.89, 779.91 (2), 779.97 (4) (a) 1., 779.97 (4) (b) 1., 779.97 (4) (b) 2., 779.97 (4) (b) 3., 779.97 (4) (b) 4., 779.97 (4) (d), 779.97 (4) (e), 815.18 (2) (i), 815.18 (2) (j), 818.02 (4), 893.36 (3) (b), 893.36 (3) (c), 893.36 (3) (e) and 893.36 (3) (f); to repeal and recreate 401.105 (2) (e), chapter 409 and 411.307 (3); and to create 402.210 (3), 402.502 (1) (a), 402.502 (2), 405.118, 408.106 (4) (c), 408.110 (5) (b), 408.301 (1) (c) 1. and 2. and 408.510 (3) (a) to (c) of the statutes; relating to: revising the Uniform Commercial Code — Secured Transactions and related statutes and granting rule-making authority.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill adopts the Revised Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 9-Secured Transactions, which was approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and by the American Law Institute in 1998 and by the American Bar Association, with the amendments approved by the national conference in 1999 and 2000.

UCC Article 9-Secured Transactions governs transactions that involve the granting of credit secured by personal property of a debtor, allowing the creditor to take the property if the debtor defaults on the debt. The changes that Revised UCC Article 9-Secured Transactions makes include the following, which are discussed in more detail below: 1) the scope of Article 9 is expanded to include kinds of property such as deposit accounts, health care receivables, and commercial tort claims, that were excluded in original Article 9; 2) perfection of a security interest by control is available not only for investment property, but also for deposit accounts and letter-of-credit rights; 3) the location of the debtor rather than the location of the collateral determines where a security interest perfects; 4) a simplified and unified system of filing financing statements in one place in each state to perfect security interests replaces the original filing system that allowed certain local filing; 5) consumers obtain certain rights that were not available in original Article 9, such as specific disclosure of any deficiency rights that the creditor may have; and 6) new rules for enforcement, such as a requirement that a creditor notify a secondary obligor when repossessing goods that are subject to a security interest.

The UCC has 11 substantive articles. Article 9 provides the rules governing any transaction (other than a finance lease) that couples a debt with a creditor's interest in a debtor's personal property. If the debtor defaults, the creditor may repossess and sell the property (generally called collateral) to satisfy the debt. The creditor's interest is called a "security interest." Article 9 also covers certain kinds of sales that look like a grant of a security interest.

There are two key concepts in the operation of Article 9: "attachment" and "perfection." These terms describe the two key events in the creation of a "security interest." Attachment generally occurs when the security interest is effective between the creditor and the debtor, and that usually happens when their agreement provides that it take place. Perfection occurs when the creditor establishes his or her "priority" in relation to other creditors of the debtor in the same collateral. The creditor with "priority" may use the collateral to satisfy the debtor's obligation when the debtor defaults before other creditors subsequent in priority may do so. Perfection occurs usually when a "financing statement" is filed in the appropriate public record. Generally, the first to file has the first priority, and so on.

Article 9 relies on the public record because it provides the means for creditors to determine whether there is any security interest that precedes theirs — a notice function. The idea is that a subsequent secured creditor cannot complain that his or her grant of credit was made in ignorance of the prior security interests easily found in the public record, and cannot complain of the priority of the prior interests as a result. Every secured creditor has a priority over any unsecured creditor.

Article 9 is more complex than the description in the two prior paragraphs implies. There are substantial exceptions to the above-stated perfection rule, for example. Filing is not the only method for perfection, depending upon the kind of property that is collateral. Possession of collateral by the secured party is an alternative method of perfection for many kinds of collateral. For some kinds of property, control (a defined term) either perfects the interest or provides a better priority than filing does. There are kinds of transactions for which attachment is perfection. Priority is, also, not always a matter of perfecting a security interest first in time.

The following numbered topics highlight Article 9 as revised in 1998:

1. Scope

The 1998 revision expands the "scope" of Article 9. What this means is that the kinds of property in which a security interest can be taken by a creditor under Article 9 increase over those available in Article 9 before revision. Also, certain kinds of transactions that did not come under Article 9 before now come under Article 9. These are some of the kinds of collateral that are included in Revised Article 9 that were not in original Article 9: sales of payment intangibles and promissory notes; security interests created by governmental debtors; health insurance receivables; consignments; and commercial tort claims. Nonpossessory, statutory agricultural liens come under Article 9 for determination of perfection and priority, generally the same as security interests come under Article 9 for those purposes.

2. Perfection

Filing a financing statement remains the dominant way to perfect a security interest in most kinds of property. It is clearer in Revised Article 9 that filing a financing statement will perfect a security interest, even if there is another method of perfection. "Control" is the method of perfection for letter-of-credit rights and deposit accounts, as well as for investment property. Control was available only to perfect security interests in investment property under prior Article 9. A creditor has control when the debtor cannot transfer the property without the creditor's consent. Possession, as an alternative method to filing a financing statement to perfect a security interest, is the only method for perfecting a security interest in money that is not proceeds of sale from property that is subject to a security interest. Automatic perfection for a purchase money security interest is increased from 10 days in prior Article 9 to 20 days in Revised Article 9. Attachment of a purchase money security interest is perfection, at least for the 20-day period. Then another method of perfection is necessary to continue the perfected security interest. However, a purchase money security interest in consumer goods remains perfected automatically for the duration of the security interest.

3. Choice of Law

In interstate secured transactions, it is necessary to determine which state's laws apply to perfection, the effect of perfection, and the priority of security interests. The 1998 revisions to Article 9 make two fundamental changes from prior Article 9. In prior Article 9, the basic rule chooses the law of the state in which the collateral is found as the law that governs perfection, effect of perfection, and a creditor's priority. In Revised Article 9, the new rule chooses the state that is the location of the debtor. Further, if the debtor is an entity created by registration in a state, the location of the debtor is the location in which the entity is created by registration. If an entity is a corporation, for example, the location of the debtor is the state in which the corporate charter is filed or registered. In prior Article 9, the entity that is a debtor is located in the state in which it has its chief executive office.

4. Filing System

Changes in the filing system in the 1998 revisions to Article 9 include a full commitment to centralized filing — one place in every state in which financing statements are filed. Under Revised Article 9, the only local filing of financing statements occurs in the real estate records for fixtures. "Fixtures" are items of personal property that become physically part of the real estate, and are treated as part of the real estate until severed from it. The bill anticipates that electronic filing of financing statements will replace the filing of paper. Paper filing of financing statements was already disappearing in a number of states in 1998, as Revised Article 9 became available to them. Revised Article 9 definitions and provisions allow the transition from paper to electronic filing without further revision of the law. Revised Article 9 makes filing-office operations more ministerial than old Article 9 did. The office in which the financing statements are filed has no responsibility for the accuracy of information on the statements and is fully absolved from any liability for the content of any statements received and filed. There is no signature requirement for a financing statement.

5. Consumer Transactions

Revised Article 9 makes a clearer distinction between transactions in which the debtor is a consumer than prior Article 9 did. Enforcement of a security interest that is included in a consumer transaction is handled differently in certain respects in the 1998 revisions to Article 9 than it was before 1998. Examples of consumer provisions are: a consumer cannot waive redemption rights in a financing agreement; a consumer buyer of goods who prepays, in whole or in part, has an enforceable interest in the purchased goods and may obtain the goods as a remedy; a consumer is entitled to disclosure of the amount of any deficiency assessed against him or her, and the method for calculating the deficiency; and, a secured creditor may not accept collateral as partial satisfaction of a consumer obligation, so that choosing strict foreclosure as a remedy means that no deficiency may be assessed against the debtor.

6. Default and Enforcement

Article 9 provisions on default and enforcement deal generally with the procedures for obtaining property in which a creditor has a security interest and selling it to satisfy the debt, when the debtor is in default. Normally, the creditor has the right to repossess the property. Revised Article 9 includes new rules dealing with "secondary" obligors (guarantors), new special rules for some of the new kinds of property that is subject to security interests, new rules for the interests of subordinate creditors with security interests in the same property, and new rules for aspects of enforcement when the debtor is a consumer debtor. These are some of the specific new rules: a secured party (creditor with security interest) is obliged to notify a secondary obligor when there is a default, and a secondary obligor generally cannot waive rights by becoming a secondary obligor; a secured party who repossesses goods and sells them is subject to the usual warranties that are part of any sale; junior secured creditors (subsequent in priority), and lienholders who have filed financing statements, must be notified when a secured party repossesses collateral; and, if a secured party sells collateral at a low price to an insider buyer, the price that should have been obtained for the goods in a commercially reasonable sale, rather than the actual price, is the price that will be used in calculating the deficiency.

For additional information, see the website of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws at http://www.nccusl.org/ uniformact_factsheets/uniformacts-fs-ucca9.htm; and http://www.nccusl.org/ uniformact_summaries/uniformacts-s-uccra9st1999.htm. For the NCCUSL drafting file for the uniform act, see http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/ulc/ ulc.htm #ucc9. For more information, see the Legislative Reference Bureau's drafting file for this bill.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB111, s. 1 Section 1. 30.57 (3) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,6,7 30.57 (3) Except as provided in sub. (4), a security interest is perfected by the delivery to the department of the existing certificate of title, if any, an application for a certificate of title containing the name and address of the secured party, and the required fee. The security interest is perfected as of the later of the time of its creation if delivery to the department is completed within 10 days after its creation and without regard to the limitations expressed in s. 409.301 (2); otherwise, as of the time of delivery or the time of the attachment of the security interest.

AB111, s. 2 Section 2. 30.57 (5) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,6,10 30.57 (5) An unperfected security interest is subordinate to the rights of persons described in s. 409.301 409.317.

AB111, s. 3 Section 3. 30.57 (6) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,6,15 30.57 (6) The rules of priority stated in s. 409.312, and 409.322, the other sections referred to in that section, and subch. III of ch. 409 shall, to the extent appropriate, apply to conflicting security interests in a boat of a type for which a certificate of title is required.

AB111, s. 4 Section 4. 30.57 (7) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,6,21 30.57 (7) The rules stated in ss. 409.501 to 409.507 subch. VI of ch. 409 governing the rights and duties of secured parties and debtors and the requirements for, and effect of, disposition of a boat by a secured party, upon default shall, to the extent appropriate, govern the rights of secured parties and owners with respect to security interests in boats perfected under this section and ss. 30.572 and 30.573.

AB111, s. 5 Section 5. 30.57 (8) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,6,25 30.57 (8) If a boat is subject to a security interest when brought into this state, s. 409.103 (1), (2) and (3) state 409.316 states the rules which determine the validity and perfection of the security interest in this state.

AB111, s. 6 Section 6. 30.573 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,7,8 30.573 (1) A Except as otherwise provided in s. 409.308 (5), a secured party may assign, absolutely or otherwise, the secured party's security interest in a boat to a person other than the owner without affecting the interest of the owner or the validity of the security interest, but any person without notice of the assignment is protected in dealing with the secured party as the holder of the security interest and the secured party remains liable for any obligations as a secured party until the assignee is named as secured party on the certificate of title.

AB111, s. 7 Section 7. 30.573 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,7,14 30.573 (2) To Subject to s. 409.308 (5), to perfect an assignment, the assignee may deliver to the department the certificate of title, the fee required under s. 30.537 (4) (f) and an assignment by the secured party named in the certificate in the form the department prescribes. Upon receipt, the department shall name the assignee as a secured party on the certificate and issue a new certificate.

AB111, s. 8 Section 8. 30.576 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,7,20 30.576 (1) Except as provided in sub. (2) and subject to s. 409.311 (4), the method provided in ss. 30.57 to 30.575 of perfecting and giving notice of security interests subject to those sections is exclusive. Security interests subject to ss. 30.57 to 30.575 are exempt from the provisions of law that otherwise require or relate to the filing of instruments creating or evidencing security interests.

AB111, s. 9 Section 9. 50.05 (15) (f) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB111,8,14 50.05 (15) (f) The receiver shall, within 60 days after termination of the receivership, file a notice of any lien created under this subsection. No action on a lien created under this subsection may be brought more than 2 years after the date of filing. If the lien is on real property, the notice shall be filed with the clerk of circuit court of the county in which the facility is located and entered on the judgment and lien docket kept under s. 779.07. If the lien is on personal property, notice of the lien shall be filed with the department of financial institutions in the same manner, form, and place as financing statements are filed under subch. V of ch. 409 regarding debtors who are located in this state. The department of financial institutions shall place file the notice of the lien on personal property in the same file as financing statements are filed under ss. 409.401 and 409.402 subch. V of ch. 409. The notice shall specify the name of the person against whom the lien is claimed, the name of the receiver, the dates of the petition for receivership and the termination of receivership, a description of the property involved and the amount claimed. No lien shall exist under this section against any person, on any property, or for any amount not specified in the notice filed under this paragraph. To the extent applicable, ch. 846 controls the foreclosure of liens under this subsection that attach to real property.

AB111, s. 10 Section 10. 51.42 (3) (d) 12. f. of the statutes is amended to read: