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ME House Paper 241

Legislation

State: Maine
Signed: May 19, 2011

Effective: August 13, 2011
Chapter: 104

Summary

House Paper 241 permits a municipal treasurer or treasurer’s assignee to sign a discharge of sewer tax lien with a facsimile signature and a Notary or notarial officer to notarize the facsimile signature.

Affects

Amends Sections 943 and 944 of the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated.

Changes
  1. Authorizes a municipal treasurer or treasurer’s assignee to sign a discharge of sewer tax lien with a facsimile signature.
  2. Authorizes notarization of a waiver of sewer tax lien foreclosure containing a municipal treasurer or treasurer’s assignee’s facsimile signature.
Analysis

We are reporting enactment of House Paper 241 because it runs counter to a longstanding NNA best practice recommending that Notaries only notarize original signatures. HP 241 permits a municipal treasurer or treasurer’s assignee to sign a discharge of sewer tax lien with a facsimile signature and a Notary or notarial officer to notarize the facsimile signature. Worse, it appears to require the Notary to falsely declare in the acknowledgment certificate that the treasurer is present even at times he or she may not be due to an assignee’s use of a facsimile stamp bearing the treasurer’s signature. HP 241 also provides a statutory form for the discharge of tax lien foreclosure.

Read House Paper 241.

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