The Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) is currently proposed in the Massachusetts legislature, H. 3294 and H. 64. UELMA is a uniform law that sets forth a framework for states to put their legal materials online so that they are as reliable as the print, providing requirements for authentication, preservation, and access. Currently, it has been passed in twenty-two states.

UELMA requires that if state legal materials are published in electronic form only, they must be designated the official version. If the electronic form is to be the official version, UELMA requires that the following be provided for:

1. Authentication: there must be a method to determine that nothing has been altered
2. Preservation: the preservation of all versions, either in electronic or print form, must be provided for.
3. Access: it must be accessible by the public on a permanent basis.

UELMA does not prescribe any particular technology, but rather provides a framework for states to provide their legal materials in electronic form using the technologies that best fit their needs, while ensuring that the electronic form is a reliable source of that state’s legal material by requiring these three things are provided for in whatever technology is chosen.

The American Association of Law Libraries’ State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources found that, while many states were putting their primary legal materials online, they were not addressing the three requirements of UELMA. Without these three elements, the electronic form cannot be as reliable as the print, and in the case where materials are only being made available in electronic form, this especially causes problems as no reliable version of the law is provided.

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The Massachusetts bill specifically names four categories of basic state legal materials that UELMA would apply to. They include the state constitution, state session laws, codified laws, judicial opinions, and agency regulations which have the effect of law. Importantly, it does not require that any of these legal materials be made available electronically but provides the framework to do so if the decision is made to provide these materials only in electronic form or to make the electronic form the official version sometime in the future.

The need for access to accurate, accessible government information is not just limited to attorneys, but benefits the public as well.  The enactment of Stat. 2012, ch.165, “An Act to improve the administration of State Government and Finance,” has severely limited production of print copies of some public documents. This has left law libraries unable to acquire print copies of certain primary legal material, and forced to rely on an electronic copy made available on the web that is not reliable, as it has not been or authenticated or deemed official. Enacting UELMA will put a framework in place to provide permanent public access to Massachusetts authenticable legal information by the public.

UELMA is important for ensuring permanent public access to authenticated official primary legal materials for everyone. Massachusetts should join the growing number of states that have adopted UELMA. For those reading this in Massachusetts , I encourage you to contact your state rep to encourage adoption of UELMA in Massachusetts.