AnalysisHouse Bill 538 is similar in nature to recently enacted HB 833. It permits the Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry to appoint employees of the Louisiana Agricultural Finance Authority or the Department of Agriculture and Forestry as ex-officio Notaries Public with power to perform notarial acts limited to the agriculture loan program in Louisiana. Unlike the aforementioned bill, HB 538 does not waive the bond requirement for ex-officio Notaries of the Agricultural Finance Authority or Department of Agriculture and Forestry or clarify that the respective government office will pay for the ex-officio Notary’s seal. The notarizations authorized are not the attorney-like functions of Louisiana’s regular civil law Notaries, but are akin to the ministerial common law functions of Notaries in the 49 other states.
Read the bill text.