The (Next to) Last Shall be (Among the) First

For several years now, those of us who teach UCC Articles 3 and 4 have had to caution our students that New York (the financial and commercial capital of the Western hemisphere) and South Carolina (home to many fine golf courses) had not adopted the 1990 revisions of Article 3 and 4, on which most payments teaching materials focus much of their attention. More recently, we have had to decide how much emphasis to give the 2002 amendments to Article 3 and 4 -- which, until April 15, only five states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, and Texas) had enacted.

But, wait! In the spirit of Matthew 20:16 (it seems only fair, being Sunday morning and all), South Carolina has vaulted from the rear of the peloton to the lead group. By affixing his signature to SB 936 on April 15, Governor Mark Sanford made law a sweeping revision of South Carolina's Articles 3 and 4 that has the effect of enacting the 1990 revisions as amended by the 2002 amendments.

Meanwhile, New York SB 2410 proposes comparably sweeping changes to New York's versions of Article 3 and 4. However, SB 4120 does not appear to be making any progress since first being referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2007 (not a typo).