Minnesota Session Laws - 1988, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1988 

                        CHAPTER 589-H.F.No. 2520 
           An act relating to commerce; clarifying certain 
          procedures and fees relating to the statewide uniform 
          commercial code computerized filing system; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, sections 336.9-407;
          336.9-411; and 336.9-413. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
336.9-407, is amended to read:  
    336.9-407 [INFORMATION FROM FILING OFFICER.] 
    (1) If the person filing any financing statement, 
termination statement, statement of assignment, or statement of 
release, furnishes the filing officer a copy thereof, the filing 
officer shall upon request note upon the copy the file number 
and date and hour of the filing of the original and deliver or 
send the copy to such person. 
    (2) Upon request of any person, the filing officer shall 
conduct a search of a file the statewide computerized uniform 
commercial code database for any effective financing statements 
naming a particular debtor and any statement of assignment 
thereof.  The filing officer shall report the findings as of 
that date and hour by issuing:  
    (a)  a certificate listing the file number, date, and hour 
of each filing and the names and addresses of each secured party 
therein;  
    (b) photocopies of the those original documents on file and 
located in the office of the filing officer; or, 
    (c) upon request, both the certificate and the photocopies 
of the statements referred to in (b).  
    The uniform fee for conducting the search and for preparing 
a certificate showing up to five listed filings or for preparing 
up to five photocopies of original documents, or any combination 
of up to five listed filings and photocopies, shall be $5 if the 
request is in the standard form prescribed by the secretary of 
state and otherwise shall be $10.  Another fee, at the same 
rate, shall also be charged for conducting a search and 
preparing a certificate showing federal and state tax liens on 
file with the filing officer naming a particular debtor.  There 
shall be an additional fee of 50 cents for each financing 
statement and each statement of assignment or tax lien listed on 
the certificate and for each photocopy prepared in excess of the 
first five.  Notwithstanding the fees set in this section, a 
natural person who is the subject of data must, upon the 
person's request, be shown the data without charge, and upon 
request be provided with photocopies of the data upon payment of 
no more than the actual cost of making the copies. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
336.9-411, is amended to read:  
    336.9-411 [COMPUTERIZED FILING SYSTEM.] 
    (a) The secretary of state shall develop and implement a 
statewide computerized filing system to accumulate and 
disseminate information relative to lien statements, financing 
statements, state and federal tax lien notices, and other 
uniform commercial code documents.  The computerized filing 
system must allow information to be entered and retrieved from 
the computerized filing system by county recorders.  
    (b) County recorders shall enter information relative to 
lien statements, financing statements, state and federal tax 
lien notices, and other uniform commercial code documents filed 
in their offices into a central data base maintained by the 
secretary of state.  The information must be entered under the 
rules of the secretary of state. 
    (c) The secretary of state may allow private parties to 
have electronic-view-only access to the computerized filing 
system and to other computerized records maintained by the 
secretary of state on a fee basis.  If the computerized filing 
system allows a form of electronic access to information 
regarding the obligations of debtors, the access must be 
available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. 
    (d) The secretary of state shall adopt rules to implement 
the computerized filing system.  The secretary of state may 
adopt permanent and emergency rules.  The rules must:  
    (1) allow filings to be made at the offices of all county 
recorders and the secretary of state's office as required by 
section 336.9-401; 
    (2) establish a central data base for all information 
relating to liens and security interests that are filed at the 
offices of county recorders and the secretary of state; 
    (3) provide procedures for entering data into a central 
data base; 
    (4) allow the offices of all county recorders and the 
secretary of state's office to add, modify, and delete 
information in the central data base as required by the uniform 
commercial code;  
    (5) allow the offices of all county recorders and the 
secretary of state's office to have access to the central data 
base for review and search capabilities;  
     (6) allow the offices of all county recorders to have 
electronic-view-only access to the computerized business 
information records on file with the secretary of state; 
    (7) require the secretary of state to maintain the central 
data base; 
    (7) (8) provide security and protection of all information 
in the central data base and monitor the central data base to 
ensure that unauthorized entry is not allowed; 
    (8) (9) require standardized information for entry into the 
central data base; 
    (9) (10) prescribe an identification procedure for debtors 
and secured parties that will enhance lien and financing 
statement searches; 
    (10) provide a system for coding information on collateral; 
and 
    (11) prescribe a procedure for phasing-in or converting 
from the existing filing system to a computerized filing system. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
336.9-413, is amended to read:  
    336.9-413 [UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE ACCOUNT.] 
    (a) The uniform commercial code account is established as 
an account in the state treasury.  
    (b) The filing officer with whom a financing statement, 
amendment assignment, or continuation statement is filed, or to 
whom a request for search is made, shall collect a $2 surcharge 
on each filing or search.  By June 1 and December 1 of each year 
the fifteenth day following the end of each fiscal quarter, each 
county recorder shall forward the accumulated receipts from the 
surcharge accumulated during that fiscal quarter to the 
secretary of state.  The surcharge does not apply to a search 
request made by a natural person who is the subject of the data 
to be searched except when a certificate is requested as a part 
of the search.  
    (c) The surcharge amounts received from county recorders 
and the surcharge amounts collected by the secretary of state's 
office must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to 
the uniform commercial code account. 
    (d) Fees that are not expressly set by statute but are 
charged by the secretary of state to offset the costs of 
providing a service under sections 336.9-411 to 336.9-413 must 
be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the uniform 
commercial code account.  
    (e) Fees that are not expressly set by statute but are 
charged by the secretary of state to offset the costs of 
providing information contained in the computerized records 
maintained by the secretary of state must be deposited in the 
state treasury and credited to the uniform commercial code 
account.  
    (f) Money in the uniform commercial code account is 
continuously appropriated to the secretary of state to implement 
and maintain the computerized uniform commercial code filing 
system under section 336.9-411 and to provide 
electronic-view-only access to other computerized records 
maintained by the secretary of state. 
    Approved April 21, 1988