[rules-users] Problems with Global Date Object

I would like to create a new Date object representing the current date and use that as a global. I have tried the following: (in Java code) setGlobal("todaysDate", new Date()); (in rules file) global java.utils.Date todaysDate; rule "LevelTwo: Associate birth date must be before today" when Associate(birthDt <= todaysDate) then System.out.println("Birth Date must be before today"); end with this code I get the following error: Error creating bean with name 'ruleBase' defined in class path resource [spring-beans.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is org.drools.rule.InvalidRulePackage: org.drools.compiler.GlobalError@b51c29 Caused by: org.drools.rule.InvalidRulePackage: org.drools.compiler.GlobalError@b51c29 at org.drools.rule.Package.checkValidity(Package.java:408) at org.drools.common.AbstractRuleBase.addPackage (AbstractRuleBase.java:288) at com.sample.RuleBaseBeanFactory.afterPropertiesSet (RuleBaseBeanFactory.java:63) etc... I have also tried to set a constant date with the date format that I found in the Drools docs (dd-MMM-yyyy) like such: statefulSession.setGlobal("todaysDate", "10-Jul-1974"); and I get the same error message. The rule does work correctly when I hard code a value in place of todaysDate within the rule so I know the rule works (but obviously that is not an option). What is the proper way to set a Date global? Is it possible this is a bug? Thanks in advance, Brian Enderle