Existing law, the Uniform Commercial Code-Secured Transactions (UCC), provides that a financing statement is sufficient only if it provides, among other things, the name of the debtor and that, if the debtor is an individual to whom the Department of Motor Vehicles has issued a driver’s license that has not expired or an identification card that has not expired, a financing statement sufficiently provides the name of the debtor only if it provides the name of the individual indicated on that driver’s license or identification card, as specified.

Existing law makes a record of a mortgage effective, from the date of recording, as a financing statement filed as a fixture filing or as a financing statement covering as-extracted collateral or timber to be cut only if certain conditions are met, including that the record satisfies the conditions for a financing statement referenced above, as specified.

This bill would, instead, provide that a record of a mortgage sufficiently names the debtor who is an individual if it provides the individual name of the debtor or the surname and first personal name of the debtor, even if the debtor is an individual to whom the Department of Motor Vehicles has issued an unexpired driver’s license or identification card.