SC House Bill 3451

Legislation

State: South Carolina
Signed: May 13, 2008

Effective: May 13, 2008
Chapter: Act No. 210

Summary

South Carolina becomes the seventeenth state to enact the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, enabling county recorders to accept electronic real property documents for recording in conformance with technical standards set by the South Carolina Secretary of State.

Affects

Adds a new Chapter 6 to Title 30 of the South Carolina Code.

Changes

Enacts the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act (URPERA).
Permits a Notary to use an electronic signature to notarize an electronic real property document without affixing an image of the Notary’s official physical seal.
Tasks the Secretary of State with promulgating technical standards to implement the act upon the recommendation of an Electronic Recording Committee with a majority of county recorders as provided for in the Act.

Analysis

South Carolina is the latest state to enact the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, authorizing county recorders to accept electronic documents for recordation.

The new law directs the Secretary of State to consider implementing standards that require recorded electronic documents to be “resistant to tampering,” thus opening the door to ENS.™ Other states that have enacted the same provision include Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia, Texas and Virginia have not.

Read House Bill 3451.