Notaries public.

Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to appoint and commission notaries public. Existing law requires a notary public who holds a California notary public commission, when applying for reappointment, to have completed a 3-hour refresher course of study prior to reappointment. This bill would also require the applicant to have satisfactorily completed a written examination prescribed by the Secretary of State, as specified. Existing law establishes the duties of a notary public, which include taking the acknowledgment or proof of specified legal documents, taking depositions and affidavits, administering oaths, and certifying copies of powers of attorney. Existing law requires a notary, in performing these duties, to give a certificate of proof or acknowledgment, endorsed or attached to the instrument, signed by the notary in their own handwriting. This bill would authorize a notary to instead sign with their electronic signature when performing these duties. The bill would require the electronic signature to include an image of the notary public's handwritten signature and would allow that electronic signature to be kept on a storage device or online media that is accessed by the notary public with a secure means of multifactor authentication and protection, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to issue a permit with a sequential identification number to each manufacturer or vendor authorized to issue notary seals, and authorizes the Secretary of State to establish a fee for issuing the permit. This bill would instead require the fee to be $100. Existing law, the Online Notarization Act, establishes a framework for authorizing and regulating online notarizations that become operative after the Secretary of State completes a technology project necessary to implement those provisions no later than January 1, 2030, unless further delayed, as specified. After completion of the technology project, the Online Notarization Act authorizes an applicant for a commission as a notary public to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to perform online notarizations and establishes requirements for application and qualification and for performing online notarizations. The act requires a notary public to record each online notarial act performed by the notary public in one tangible sequential journal and one or more secure electronic journals. The act authorizes a person or entity to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to be an online notarization platform or depository, and establishes requirements for application and for conducting business as an online notarization platform or depository. The Online Notarization Act requires an applicant for registration to perform online notarizations to have satisfactorily completed a specified 2-hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State concerning the functions and duties of a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations. This bill would require the Secretary of State to review the course of study proposed by any vendor to be offered pursuant to those provisions. The Online Notarization Act requires a notary public's electronic signature to include an image of the notary public's handwritten signature. This bill would require the signature to match the notary public's handwritten signature on their official oath, as specified. The Online Notarization Act limits the fee amounts that a notary public may charge for taking the acknowledgment of a deed or other instrument and for administering an oath or affirmation to one person and executing the jurat, as specified. This bill would prohibit a notary public from charging a fee for these services unless the online notarial act is completed. The bill would authorize a notary public to charge a technology fee for a terminated online notarial act session if the termination is due to one of specified reasons, and would limit that fee to the actual and reasonable cost incurred by the notary public for the use of the online notarization platform. The Online Notarization Act requires a person or entity to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to be an online notarization platform or depository on an application for registration that includes specified information. The act authorizes the Secretary of State to charge a fee for an application for registration. This bill would require the person or entity to apply annually thereafter for renewal of registration during the applicable time period, as specified. The bill would authorize an online notarization platform or depository, if there has been no change in the information in the last filed application for registration, to advise the Secretary of State that no changes in the required information have occurred during the applicable filing period. The bill would require an online notarization platform or depository to file an updated application for registration whenever any of the information required in the application is changed, and would require the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $50 to file an updated application. The bill would require the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $5,000 for an initial application for registration and a $1,000 fee for a renewal of registration. The Online Notarization Act requires an online notarization platform or depository, if certain events occur, to notify each notary public that used the online notarization platform or depository at least 30 days before the event, including if the online notarization platform ceases to provide an online notarization system or depository for use within California. This bill would require the online notarization platform or depository to also notify the Secretary of State at least 30 days before those events by submitting the notice electronically through the Secretary of State's web portal. The bill would require the Secretary of State to post information on its internet website demonstrating that a notarization platform or depository is registered with the Secretary of State to perform online notarization, as specified. The bill would make other technical, conforming, and nonsubstantive changes to the provisions regulating notaries public.