The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), also known as the Uniform Law Commission, is a non-partisan, non-profit, unincorporated association that discusses and debates which areas of the law require uniformity among the states and territories. The NCCUSL consists of commissioners appointed by each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. Each jurisdiction may determine its own selection criteria and appoint any number of representatives as long as the representatives are members of the bar. There are currently over 300 commissioners in the NCCUSL made of state legislators, practitioners, judges, and professors. Commissioners receive no compensation from the NCCUSL.
The NCCUSL drafts Uniform Acts accordingly. Uniformity can promote efficiency across state lines and understanding with foreign entities. The results of these discussions are proposed to the various jurisdictions as either model acts (such as the Model Penal Code) or uniform acts (such as the Uniform Commercial Code), but each jurisdiction ultimately decides whether to adopt the uniform laws.
[Last updated in July of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]