Many solutions to the frame problem have been proposed in the literature, some are monotonic and some are nonmonotonic. Reiter recently proposed a solution and its application to the domain of database update specification, but no proof of soundness or completeness has been provided. We assess Reiter's monotonic solution to the frame problem in the database domain following Sandewall's methodology and we provide a more general underlying semantics that will serve as basis for the assessment of other solutions as well.