Notary Law Update

Notary Law Update: Senate Bill 111

Description:

After a sunset review of the Notary Public Act, which was set to expire on July 1, 2009, Senate Bill 111 renews the Notary Public Act with important new provisions including an expansion of a limited Notary recordkeeping requirement to apply now to all notarial acts; authorization for the Secretary of State to promulgate rules requiring Notaries to take a training program, and a directive requiring the Secretary to verify the lawful presence in the U.S. of all Notary commission applicants.

State: Colorado

Effective: July 1, 2009

Signed: April 22, 2009

Chapter: TBD

Affects:

Amends Sections 12-55-103, 12-55-103.5, 12-55-107, 12-55-111, and 24-34-104, and repeals Sections 12-55-106.7, 12-55-123 and 24-34-104(40)(e) of the Colorado Revised Statutes

Changes:

1. Repeals the prior requirement that a Notary keep a journal of every acknowledgment affecting title to real property taken by the Notary and requires a Notary to keep a journal for every notarial act. (Note: the law retains the existing provision allowing certain documents and electronic records containing the information otherwise required to be entered in the journal to be kept in lieu of a journal record if retained by the Notary's employer in the ordinary course of business).
2. Requires the Secretary of State to verify the lawful presence in the United States of any Notary commission applicant through the verification procedures.

Analysis:

In Colorado, the Notary Public Act is subject to a “sunset” review and repeal process that is designed to ensure that the Act is kept up to date with current pertinent developments in society. The result of the sunset review was the enactment of Senate Bill 111, which renews the Notary Public Act with a number of important changes. Most importantly, the bill requires Notaries to keep a journal record of each notarial act performed. (The previous law required Notaries to keep a journal only for acknowledgments affecting title to real property. This provision was repealed and the new journal requirement inserted in its place). The new journal law maintains existing provisions in the Notary Public Act allowing a document or electronic record containing all of the information required to be included in a journal entry to be kept in lieu of a journal entry itself, provided the document or electronic record is retained by the Notary's employer in the ordinary course of business. An additional provision of the law was also retained prohibiting a firm, employer or professionally licensed person from disallowing a Notary to maintain a journal in the regular course of employment. Another noteworthy change in the law is a new provision requiring the Secretary of State to verify the legal presence in the U.S. of Notary commission applicants.