AZ House Bill 2037

House Bill 2037 is a significant change to Arizona’s Notary laws. It permits, but does not obligate, the Secretary of State to require new and renewing Notaries to take a mandatory education course and authorizes the Secretary to charge a fee for the training course. In speaking with the Secretary’s office, the NNA learned that it appears the legislative intent was that the Secretary would be the sole provider of this training. It should be noted that the training would apply to applicants for a regular Notary commission only. It does not apply to applicants for an Electronic Notary commission, which must be applied for separately. A second important change brought about under HB 2037 is that an unexpired driver’s license, U.S. passport and identification card issued by the U.S. armed forces are specifically listed as written identification a Notary and Electronic Notary may accept as satisfactory evidence of identity. Prior law permitted a Notary to accept at least one current form of identification issued by the U.S. government or a state or tribal government with the individual’s photograph, signature and physical description that consisted of at a minimum a description of the individual’s height, weight, color of hair and color of eyes. The 3 new IDs now listed in the statute technically do not have to bear a signature, photograph and physical description as the other types of written identification presented to a Notary or electronic Notary. This clarification was needed because many state driver’s licenses do not contain the minimum physical description required of all other IDs (for example, a Tennessee driver’s license does not contain the person’s weight and color of hair) and a U.S. passport does not contain a physical description at all. However, any other U.S., state or tribal government ID other than a driver’s license, U.S. passport or military ID still must contain a full physical description. In real property conveyance and finance transactions, a Notary and Electronic Notary may now accept any of the IDs described above; or a properly stamped, current and valid foreign passport; or any other valid unexpired identification that is acceptable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to establish an individual’s legal presence in the U.S. and that is accompanied with supporting documents as required by the Department of Homeland Security. The “Green Card” is one such identification document that could be presented to a Notary or Electronic Notary, but undoubtedly there are others (for example, the so-called “Border Crossing” and “Employment Verification” cards). A small but important addition to the identification provision in the new law is that Notaries may accept a driver’s license from a U.S. territory. Notaries ask the NNA frequently whether they can accept driver’s licenses from any U.S. territory. The repeal of the provision requiring a Notary to affix his or her commission expiration date on a notarial certificate makes sense given that one of the stipulated elements in the required Arizona Notary seal is the commission expiration date. Finally, HB 2037 repealed the ill-conceived electronic notarization provision which allowed an Electronic Notary to issue a “Notary service electronic certificate” to a document signer for the express purpose of allowing the signer to perform legally-binding electronic notarial acts in the Electronic Notary’s name without the Electronic Notary being present. The NNA has repeatedly criticized and called for this statute to be repealed. In its ten-year history, this provision was never implemented. Look for “clean up” legislation in the future to repeal ARS 41-355(A)(4), (5) and (6), provisions which pertain to Notary service electronic certificates as well as the administrative rule issued by the Secretary of State to implement them.

Read House Bill 2037.