Bill Text: MS HB1294 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Central bank digital currency; restrict use of in Mississippi.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB1294 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-HB1294-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Banking and Financial Services
By: Representative Currie
House Bill 1294
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-1-201, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DEFINE THE TERM "CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY"; TO PROVIDE THAT THE TERM "MONEY" DOES NOT INCLUDE A CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY; TO AMEND SECTION 75-15-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXCLUDE CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY FROM THE TERMS "CHECK", "MONETARY VALUE" AND "PERSONAL MONEY ORDER"; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 75-15-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH RELATES TO THE MISSISSIPPI MONEY TRANSMITTERS ACT, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 75-1-201, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
75-1-201. (a) Unless the context otherwise requires, words or phrases defined in this section, or in the additional definitions contained in other articles of the Uniform Commercial Code contained in other chapters of this title that apply to particular chapters or parts thereof, have the meanings stated.
(b) Subject to definitions contained in other articles of the Uniform Commercial Code that apply to particular articles or parts thereof:
(1) "Action," in the sense of a judicial proceeding, includes recoupment, counterclaim, setoff, suit in equity, and any other proceeding in which rights are determined.
(2) "Aggrieved party" means a party entitled to pursue a remedy.
(3) "Agreement," as distinguished from "contract," means the bargain of the parties in fact, as found in their language or inferred from other circumstances, including course of performance, course of dealing, or usage of trade as provided in Section 75-1-303.
(4) "Bank" means a person engaged in the business of banking and includes a savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union, and trust company.
(5) "Bearer" means a person in possession of a negotiable instrument, document of title, or certificated security that is payable to bearer or indorsed in blank.
(6) "Bill of lading" means a document evidencing the receipt of goods for shipment issued by a person engaged in the business of transporting or forwarding goods.
(7) "Branch" includes a separately incorporated foreign branch of a bank.
(8) "Burden of establishing a fact" means the burden of persuading the trier of fact that the existence of the fact is more probable than its nonexistence.
(9) "Buyer in ordinary course of business" means a person that buys goods in good faith, without knowledge that the sale violates the rights of another person in the goods, and in the ordinary course from a person, other than a pawnbroker, in the business of selling goods of that kind. A person buys goods in the ordinary course if the sale to the person comports with the usual or customary practices in the kind of business in which the seller is engaged or with the seller's own usual or customary practices. A person that sells oil, gas, or other minerals at the wellhead or minehead is a person in the business of selling goods of that kind. A buyer in ordinary course of business may buy for cash, by exchange of other property, or on secured or unsecured credit, and may acquire goods or documents of title under a preexisting contract for sale. Only a buyer that takes possession of the goods or has a right to recover the goods from the seller under Article 2 may be a buyer in ordinary course of business. 'Buyer in ordinary course of business' does not include a person that acquires goods in a transfer in bulk or as security for or in total or partial satisfaction of a money debt.
(10) "Central bank digital currency" means a digital currency, a digital medium of exchange, or a digital monetary unit of account issued by the United States Federal Reserve System, a federal agency, a foreign government, a foreign central bank, or a foreign reserve system, that is made directly available to a consumer by such entities. The term includes a digital currency, a digital medium of exchange, or a digital monetary unit of account issued by the United States Federal Reserve System, a federal agency, a foreign government, a foreign central bank, or a foreign reserve system, that is processed or validated directly by such entities.
( * * *11) "Conspicuous," with
reference to a term, means so written, displayed, or presented that a
reasonable person against which it is to operate ought to have noticed it.
Whether a term is "conspicuous" or not is a decision for the court.
Conspicuous terms include the following:
(A) A heading in capitals equal to or greater in size than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font, or color to the surrounding text of the same or lesser size; and
(B) Language in the body of a record or display in larger type than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font, or color to the surrounding text of the same size, or set off from surrounding text of the same size by symbols or other marks that call attention to the language.
( * * *12) "Consumer" means an
individual who enters into a transaction primarily for personal, family, or
household purposes.
( * * *13) "Contract," as distinguished
from "agreement," means the total legal obligation that results from
the parties' agreement as determined by the Uniform Commercial Code as
supplemented by any other applicable laws.
( * * *14) "Creditor" includes a
general creditor, a secured creditor, a lien creditor, and any representative
of creditors, including an assignee for the benefit of creditors, a trustee in
bankruptcy, a receiver in equity, and an executor or administrator of an
insolvent debtor's or assignor's estate.
( * * *15) "Defendant" includes a
person in the position of defendant in a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party
claim.
( * * *16) "Delivery," with
respect to an instrument, document of title, or chattel paper, means voluntary
transfer of possession.
( * * *17) "Document of title"
includes bill of lading, dock warrant, dock receipt, warehouse receipt or order
for the delivery of goods, and also any other document which in the regular
course of business or financing is treated as adequately evidencing that the
person in possession of it is entitled to receive, hold, and dispose of the document
and the goods it covers. To be a document of title, a document must purport to
be issued by or addressed to a bailee and purport to cover goods in the bailee's
possession which are either identified or are fungible portions of an
identified mass.
( * * *18) "Fault" means a
default, breach, or wrongful act or omission.
( * * *19) "Fungible goods" means:
(A) Goods of which any unit, by nature or usage of trade, is the equivalent of any other like unit; or
(B) Goods that by agreement are treated as equivalent.
( * * *20) "Genuine" means free of
forgery or counterfeiting.
( * * *21) "Good faith," except as
otherwise provided in Article 5, means honesty in fact and the observance of
reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing.
( * * *22) "Holder" means:
(A) The person in possession of a negotiable instrument that is payable either to bearer or to an identified person that is the person in possession; or
(B) The person in possession of a document of title if the goods are deliverable either to bearer or to the order of the person in possession.
( * * *23) "Insolvency proceeding"
includes an assignment for the benefit of creditors or other proceeding
intended to liquidate or rehabilitate the estate of the person involved.
( * * *24) "Insolvent" means:
(A) Having generally ceased to pay debts in the ordinary course of business other than as a result of bona fide dispute;
(B) Being unable to pay debts as they become due; or
(C) Being insolvent within the meaning of federal bankruptcy law.
( * * *25) "Money" means a medium
of exchange currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign
government. The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an
intergovernmental organization or by agreement between two (2) or more
countries. The term "money" does not include a central bank
digital currency.
( * * *26) "Organization" means a
person other than an individual.
( * * *27) "Party," as
distinguished from "third party," means a person that has engaged in
a transaction or made an agreement subject to the Uniform Commercial Code.
( * * *28) "Person" means an individual,
corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability
company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision,
agency, or instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or
commercial entity.
( * * *29) "Present value" means
the amount as of a date certain of one or more sums payable in the future,
discounted to the date certain by use of either an interest rate specified by
the parties if that rate is not manifestly unreasonable at the time the transaction
is entered into or, if an interest rate is not so specified, a commercially
reasonable rate that takes into account the facts and circumstances at the time
the transaction is entered into.
( * * *30) "Purchase" means taking
by sale, lease, discount, negotiation, mortgage, pledge, lien, security interest,
issue or reissue, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest
in property.
( * * *31) "Purchaser" means a
person that takes by purchase.
( * * *32) "Record" means information
that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or
other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
( * * *33) "Remedy" means any
remedial right to which an aggrieved party is entitled with or without resort to
a tribunal.
( * * *34) "Representative" means
a person empowered to act for another, including an agent, an officer of a
corporation or association, and a trustee, executor, or administrator of an
estate.
( * * *35) "Right" includes remedy.
( * * *36) "Security interest"
means an interest in personal property or fixtures which secures payment or
performance of an obligation. "Security interest" includes any
interest of a consignor and a buyer of accounts, chattel paper, a payment intangible,
or a promissory note in a transaction that is subject to Article 9. "Security
interest" does not include the special property interest of a buyer of goods
on identification of those goods to a contract for sale under Section 75-2-401,
but a buyer may also acquire a "security interest" by complying with
Article 9. Except as otherwise provided in Section 75-2-505, the right of a
seller or lessor of goods under Article 2 or 2A to retain or acquire possession
of the goods is not a "security interest," but a seller or lessor may
also acquire a "security interest" by complying with Article 9. The
retention or reservation of title by a seller of goods notwithstanding shipment
or delivery to the buyer under Section 75-2-401 is limited in effect to a reservation
of a "security interest." Whether a transaction in the form of a lease
creates a "security interest" is determined pursuant to Section 75-1-203.
( * * *37) "Send" in connection
with a writing, record, or notice means:
(A) To deposit in the mail or deliver for transmission by any other usual means of communication with postage or cost of transmission provided for and properly addressed and, in the case of an instrument, to an address specified thereon or otherwise agreed, or if there be none to any address reasonable under the circumstances; or
(B) In any other way to cause to be received any record or notice within the time it would have arrived if properly sent.
( * * *38) "Signed" includes using
any symbol executed or adopted with present intention to adopt or accept a
writing.
( * * *39) "State" means a state
of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States
Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States.
( * * *40) "Surety" includes a
guarantor or other secondary obligor.
( * * *41) "Term" means a portion of
an agreement that relates to a particular matter.
( * * *42) "Unauthorized signature"
means a signature made without actual, implied, or apparent authority. The term
includes a forgery.
( * * *43) "Warehouse receipt"
means a receipt issued by a person engaged in the business of storing goods for
hire.
( * * *44) "Writing"' includes
printing, typewriting, or any other intentional reduction to tangible form. "Written"
has a corresponding meaning.
SECTION 2. Section 75-15-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
75-15-3. For the purposes of this chapter:
(a) "Check" means any check, draft, money order, personal money order or other instrument, including, but not limited to, stored value cards, for the transmission or payment of money. The format of a check may be either paper, electronic, plastic or any combination thereof. The term "check" does not include a central bank digital currency.
(b) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Banking and Consumer Finance of the State of Mississippi.
(c) "Deliver" means to deliver a check to the first person who in payment for same makes or purports to make a remittance of or against the face amount thereof, whether or not the deliverer also charges a fee in addition to the face amount, and whether or not the deliverer signs the check.
(d) "Executive officer" means the licensee's president, chairman of the executive committee, senior officer responsible for the licensee's business, chief financial officer and any other person who performs similar functions.
(e) "Licensee" means a person duly licensed by the commissioner under this chapter.
(f) "Monetary value" means a medium of exchange, whether or not redeemable in money. The term "monetary value" does not include a central bank digital currency.
(g) "Money transmission" means to engage in the business of the sale or issuance of checks or of receiving money or monetary value for transmission to a location within or outside the United States by any and all means, including, but not limited to, wire, facsimile or electronic transfer. The term "money transmission" does not include engaging in the business of the sale or issuance of a central bank digital currency.
(h) "Outstanding check" means any check issued or sold in Mississippi by or for the licensee that has been reported as sold but not yet paid by or for the licensee.
(i) "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, joint-stock association, trust or corporation, but does not include the United States government or the government of this state.
(j) "Personal money order" means any instrument for the transmission or payment of money in relation to which the purchaser or remitter appoints or purports to appoint the seller thereof as his agent for the receipt, transmission or handling of money, whether the instrument is signed by the seller or by the purchaser or remitter or some other person. The term "personal money order" does not include engaging in the business of the sale or issuance of a central bank digital currency.
(k) "Records" or "documents" means any item in hard copy or produced in a format of storage commonly described as electronic, imaged, magnetic, microphotographic or otherwise, and any reproduction so made shall have the same force and effect as the original thereof and be admitted in evidence equally with the original.
(l) "Sell" means to sell, to issue or to deliver a check.
(m) "Stored value" means monetary value that is evidenced by an electronic record.
SECTION 3. Section 75-15-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
75-15-7. Nothing in this chapter shall apply to the sale or issuance or delivering of checks by:
(a) Any financial institution whose deposits are insured by any agency of the United States government or any trust company authorized to do business in this state;
(b) The government of the United States or any department or agent thereof;
(c) The State of Mississippi or any municipal corporation, county or other political subdivision of this state;
(d) Agents of a licensee, as provided for in Section 75-15-17, provided that this exemption shall apply only to the agent's acts on behalf of the licensee and this exemption shall not exempt the agent from the provisions of this chapter where he conducts money transmissions for his own account;
(e) Attorneys-at-law, as to checks issued in the regular course of the practice of law;
(f) Persons not carrying on the trade or business of money transmission, this exemption is intended to include persons who conduct money transmissions only as an incidental act to another trade or business regularly carried on by them and persons who only occasionally and infrequently conduct money transmissions for another person; or
(g) The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry for mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders and mortgage loan originators.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
