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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1033
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5527
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT CONCERNING NO NCOMPETE AGREEMENTS IN THE
BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOG Y INDUSTRY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Blockchain technology" means distributed ledger technology 2
that uses a distributed, decentralized, shared and replicated ledger that 3
may be public or private, permissioned or permissionless and that may 4
include the use of electronic currencies or electronic tokens as a 5
medium of electronic exchange; 6
(2) "Blockchain technology industry employer" means an entity 7
engaged in blockchain technology business who has employees; 8
(3) "Blockchain technology employee" means any employee of a 9
blockchain technology industry employer; and 10
(4) "Distributed ledger technology" means any database that is 11
consensually shared and synchronized across multiple sites, 12
institutions or geographies allowing for public witnesses to such 13 Raised Bill No. 1033
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transactions and may include supporting infrastructure, including 14
blockchain technology, that uses a distributed, decentralized, shared 15
and replicated ledger, whether public or private, permissioned or 16
permissionless, and that may include the use of electronic currencies or 17
electronic tokens as a medium of electronic storage. 18
(b) No blockchain technology industry employment contract for the 19
services of a blockchain technology employee may contain a provision 20
requiring that such blockchain technology employee: 21
(1) Refrain from obtaining employment in a specified geographical 22
area for a specified period of time after termination of employment 23
with such blockchain technology industry employer; 24
(2) Disclose the terms or conditions of an offer of employment, or 25
the existence of any such offer, from any other blockchain technology 26
industry employer following the expiration of the term of the 27
employment contract; or 28
(3) Agree to enter into a subsequent employment contract with the 29
blockchain technology industry employer, or extend or renew the 30
existing employment contract, upon the same terms and conditions 31
offered by a prospective employer. 32
(c) Any person who is aggrieved by a violation of this section may 33
bring a civil action in the Superior Court to recover damages, together 34
with court costs and reasonable attorney's fees. 35
(d) The provisions of this section shall apply to blockchain industry 36
employment contracts entered into, renewed or extended on or after 37
July 1, 2019. 38
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
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Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit the use of noncompete agreements in the blockchain
technology industry.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]