Legislation
State: Utah
Signed: March 14, 2007
Effective: April 30, 2007
Chapter: 278
SummarySenate Bill 154 allows an unsworn written declaration to be made instead of a sworn statement under oath before a Notary or notarial ofificer in any matter that the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, or Evidence, require or permit a written declaration upon oath.
AffectsAdds Section 46-5-101 to the Utah Code Annotated.
Changes
- Permits a person to make an unsworn written declaration in any matter that the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, or Evidence, require or permit a written declaration upon oath.
- Provides that any person who knowingly makes a false unsworn written statement is guilty a class B misdemeanor.
AnalysisEarlier this year we reported that the state of Wyoming had enacted legislation allowing a person to make an unsworn written declaration in any matter requiring an oath or affirmation before a Notary and decried that the law unwisely removed the protections a Notary imparts to these transactions. The state of Utah was going down this road until communication with the bill’s sponsor uncovered that the need for this legislation specifically concerned matters before Utah civil and criminal courts. The NNA convinced the sponsor to limit the effect of the legislation to these circumstances only, and not to apply it more widely to any matter involving a sworn statement before a Notary. The end result is that the notarial act of jurat was not weakened to the same degree as it was in Wyoming.
Read Senate Bill 154.