Shippers Warehouse Leads Successful Fight to Pass UCC Art. 7 in Georgia

Led by Georgia Vice-President and General Manager Bill Stankiewicz, Shippers Warehouse of Georgia was instrumental in the recent passage by Georgia of the amended Article 7 of the Universal Commercial Code.

First introduced on February 18, 2009, Georgia HB 451 won unanimous approval in the Georgia House on March 12, and the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended passage on March 26. Further meetings by Shippers Warehouse G.M. Bill Stankiewicz with legislators & support from business groups such as IWLA, WERC, CSCMP, Southeastern Warehouse Association, & others helped to finally achieve success with the bill being signed into law by the Georgia Governor on May 27, 2010.

Article 7 helps to solve many of the emerging issues in the new age of electronic rights and title transfer by incorporating consistent provisions for electronic documents of title. It allows a warehousemen or common carrier on one side of the country to know what his expectation will be on the other side of the country. It incorporates time honored means of negotiability with updates for the new means and methods for negotiability and transfer of electronic documents of title allowing for “interchangeability.”

As of March 1, 2010, Revised UCC Article 7 was in effect in thirty-six states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Pictured from left to right that are standing, Michael Glanton-State Representative, Michael Jacobs-State Representative-co- bill sponsor, William Stankiewicz-Vice President and General Manager-Shippers Warehouse, Governor Sonny Perdue-seated, Roger Martin- UCC -Uniform Commercial Commissioner & Attorney at Law for Hall Booth Smith & Slover,P.C., Edward Lindsey-State Representative-co-bill sponsor, Anthony Piccolo-Shippers Warehouse Transportation Executive, and Brad Carver-Attorney at Law-HBSS.