WY Senate File 171

Legislation

State: Wyoming
Signed: March 04, 2007

Effective: July 01, 2007
Chapter: 199

Summary

Senate File 171 removes the protections a Notary imparts to documentary transactions requiring a sworn oath or affirmation and classifies a false signing on penalty of perjury without the presence of a Notary as a felony on par with the felony of false swearing.

Affects

Creates a new Section 1-2-104 in and amends Section 6-5-303 of the Wyoming Statutes.

Changes

Permits a person to certify in writing “under the penalty of false swearing” in any matter requiring a sworn statement, declaration, verification, certificate, oath or affidavit unless it is a deposition, an acknowledgment, an oath of office or an oath required to be taken before a specified official other than a Notary.
Provides that any person who knowingly makes a false certification is guilty of false swearing, a felony punishable by imprisonment of up to 2 years, fine up to $2,000, or both.

Analysis

In an act whose likely justification was to spare the public the inconvenience of seeking out a Notary, Senate File 171 unwisely removes the protections a Notary imparts to documentary transactions requiring a sworn oath or affirmation and classifies a false signing on penalty of perjury without the presence of a Notary as a felony on par with the felony of false swearing. Without a Notary to witness this “certification,” any person can now easily and conveniently disavow having made such a statement in order to evade a perjury charge. As of July 1, 2007, documentary transactions in Wyoming will be less secure as a result.

Read Senate File 171.