AnalysisHouse Bill 2387 makes several changes to Tennessee’s Notary statutes. First, it fixes an issue that prevented Tennessee House and Senate members from holding a Notary commission. Evidently, the Secretary of State interpreted TCA 8-16-102, which reads, “All notaries shall be commissioned by the governor,” to mean that legislators could not be appointed to hold a Notary commission. Other law provides that the Governor cannot grant legislators anything while the legislature is in session, presumably to maintain the separation of the Executive and Legislative branches of government. At any rate, the Secretary interpreted the word “commissioned” in the statute to mean “granted.” HB 2387 fixes TCA 8-16-102 by striking the word “commissioned” and adding the word “approved” so that it reads, “All notaries shall be approved by the governor.” The legislature then makes it very clear what “approved” means by adding the following sentence to TCA 8-16-102: “For purposes of this section, ‘approved’ means to accept or to sanction, and does not mean to appoint.” Second, HB 2387 repeals the statute relating to the fees Notaries may charge and replaces it with a provision that says a Notary may charge a “reasonable fee” for Notary services. Under current law, the fees Notaries may charge are very low and outdated. Finally, whether intentionally or unintentionally, HB 2387 creates a journal requirement. It adds the following provision to the fee statute: “The notaries public shall keep a record in a well-bound book of each of the notaries public’s acts, attestations, protestations, and other instruments of publication.” This sentence replaces a provision in the fee statute which says, “For recording in a well-bound book, to be kept by the notary for that purpose, each attestation, protestation and other instrument of publication…$1.00.” So, under existing law, a Notary may charge $1.00 for recording an entry in the journal. However, the wording of the new journal provision appears to create a broader duty to record the Notary’s acts in a well-bound book.
Read House Bill 2387.