Meet The Group Threatening Americansâ Freedom Youâve Probably Never Heard Of
If you were to ask 20 of your smartest friends, co-workers, and family members what they know about the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), itâs unlikely any of them would have much, if anything, to say. Most Americans have never heard of the ULC, even though the organization has become one of the countryâs most influential groups.
If you were to call your state lawmakers, however, youâd likely get an entirely different reaction. Virtually every legislator in America is familiar with the ULC, and most â Democrats and Republicans alike â have a positive opinion of the group. Thatâs largely because the ULC has a long history of working closely with legislators to develop and revise the Uniform Commercial Code, a complex state law passed in all 50 states.
The purpose of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is to ensure that commercial and financial activities are regulated as similarly as possible throughout the United States. Without the UCC, conducting business in multiple states would be extremely difficult and costly.
Because the Uniform Commercial Code is so complicated, legislators have trouble understanding and altering it. They depend on the Uniform Law Commission, which is mostly composed of lawyers and academics, as well as the ULCâs partner organizations, to help them. As a result, the ULC has become so important to state lawmakers that it receives much of its funding from state appropriations. That means you, the taxpayer, are footing the bill for the ULC.
For much of the 20th century, the ULC played an important, nonpartisan, uncontroversial role in helping states adopt uniform laws. But in recent decades, the group has become increasingly more radical. It now regularly pushes policymakers to adopt legislation that undermines the rights of individuals and enhances the power of governments, large corporations, and financial institutions.
Take, for example, the disturbing model bill titled the Public-Health Emergency Authority Act (PHEAA). The ULC drafted and formally approved PHEAA in 2023, and itâs now asking legislators to pass it into law.
In the event that a âpublic health emergencyâ breaks out in the future, the PHEAA would effectively turn governors across the country into all-powerful quasi-dictators.
Under the ULCâs public health emergency bill, governors would have the right to seize control of virtually every part of their citizensâ lives. They could, for instance, regulate the âzoning, operation, commandeering, management, or use of buildings, shelters, facilities, parks, outdoor space, or other physical space, and the management of activities in those places.â
They would also have the authority to single-handedly regulate public-health-related âtesting, isolation, quarantine, movement, gathering, evacuation, or relocation of individuals.â
Governors could further kill, relocate, and manage plants and animals in the state, as well as suspend âa provision of any statute, order, rule, or regulation if strict compliance would hinder efforts to respond to the public-health emergency or pose undue hardship or risk.â
The ULC would also grant governors the right to conduct unlimited âsurveillance, monitoring, or assessment of the public-health emergency or any of its effects.â
And although the ULCâs bill suggests establishing a time limit on the initial duration of a declared âpublic health emergency,â its bill would also allow governors to renew an emergency with minimal oversight from legislatures, and to do so for an infinite number of times.
Emergency power isnât the only troubling part of the ULCâs agenda.
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