2003 House Bill 5148 ↩
House Roll Call 7:
Passed
To make it a misdemeanor to file false finance statements of the type used to perfect a security interest in property owned by another to whom one has lent money, to allow baseless filings to be removed from public records, and to require debtors to be notified by the Secretary of State any filings. Reportedly there are instances of individuals falsely filing these statements against others as a means of retribution, and under current law there is no test for their validity and no way to have baseless filings removed. The bill also raises the fees imposed by the Secretary of State for filing and searching financing statements.