North Dakota hearing on UCC Article 8 draws farmers, citizen experts and banking lobby

Chair Larson convened a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Senate Bill 23‑64, a proposal to change the choice‑of‑law and priority rules in Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 8 that supporters say would protect North Dakotans’ property interests in securities. Proponents told the committee that the current indirect holding system leaves individual investors as “entitlement holders” with weaker rights in institutional insolvency.

The bill’s sponsor and early proponent, Senator Mark Inge, introduced the topic and said the hearing would focus on Article 8’s treatment of security entitlements. “I am here to express legitimate and alarming concerns over the content and dangers of Article 8,” Inge said. Private citizen Kyle Warner and attorney Don Grandy, who represents True North Public Policy, both urged the committee to adopt the draft changes; David Webb, author of The Great Taking, gave similar written testimony and spoke remotely.

Why it matters: proponents said the current rules can leave ordinary investors behind secured creditors if an intermediary or clearing corporation becomes insolvent. Warner summarized the proposal’s aim: give entitlement holders higher priority and allow North Dakota law to govern disputes over property interests so the state’s residents and public entities…