BILL NUMBER: AB 2062 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 539
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 15, 2004
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 15, 2004
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 16, 2004
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 9, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2004
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Nakano
FEBRUARY 17, 2004
An act to amend Sections 8201 and 8206 of, and to add Section 8202
to, the Government Code, relating to notaries public.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2062, Nakano. Notaries public.
(1) Existing law generally sets forth the procedures for proof and
acknowledgment of instruments executed by notaries public.
This bill would additionally set forth the procedures for
execution, and the form, of a jurat by a notary public.
(2) Existing law requires notaries public that are appointed on or
after January 1, 2005, to have satisfactorily completed a 6-hour
course of study approved by the Secretary of State concerning the
functions and duties of a notary public.
This bill instead would apply this requirement to appointments
made on or after July 1, 2005.
(3) Existing law requires a notary public to keep an active
journal of all official acts performed as a notary public, and to
include in this journal, among other things, information as to every
instrument acknowledged or proved before the notary.
This bill would additionally specify that this requirement applies
to information as to every instrument sworn to or affirmed before
the notary.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8201 of the Government Code is amended to read:
8201. (a) Every person appointed as notary public shall meet all
of the following requirements:
(1) Be at the time of appointment a legal resident of this state,
except as otherwise provided in Section 8203.1.
(2) Be not less than 18 years of age.
(3) For appointments made on or after July 1, 2005, have
satisfactorily completed a six-hour course of study approved by the
Secretary of State pursuant to Section 8201.2 concerning the
functions and duties of a notary public.
(4) Have satisfactorily completed a written examination prescribed
by the Secretary of State to determine the fitness of the person to
exercise the functions and duties of the office of notary public.
All questions shall be based on the law of this state as set forth in
the booklet of the laws of California relating to notaries public
distributed by the Secretary of State.
(b) (1) Commencing July 1, 2005, each applicant for notary public
shall provide satisfactory proof that he or she has completed the
course of study required pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a)
prior to approval of his or her appointment as a notary public by
the Secretary of State.
(2) Commencing July 1, 2005, an applicant for notary public who
holds a California notary public commission, and who has
satisfactorily completed the six-hour course of study required
pursuant to paragraph (1) at least one time, shall provide
satisfactory proof when applying for reappointment as a notary public
that he or she has satisfactorily completed a three-hour refresher
course of study prior to reappointment as a notary public by the
Secretary of State.
SEC. 2. Section 8202 is added to the Government Code, to read:
8202. (a) When executing a jurat, a notary shall administer an
oath or affirmation to the affiant and shall determine, from personal
knowledge or satisfactory evidence as described in Section 1185 of
the Civil Code, that the affiant is the person executing the
document. The affiant shall sign the document in the presence of the
notary.
(b) To any affidavit subscribed and sworn to before a notary,
there shall be attached a jurat in the following form:
State of California
County of _______________
Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on this _____ day
of _______, 20__, by _________________________, personally known to
me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the
person(s) who appeared before me.
Seal____________________________
Signature_______________________
SEC. 3. Section 8206 of the Government Code is amended to read:
8206. (a) (1) A notary public shall keep one active sequential
journal at a time, of all official acts performed as a notary public.
The journal shall be kept in a locked and secured area, under the
direct and exclusive control of the notary. Failure to secure the
journal shall be cause for the Secretary of State to take
administrative action against the commission held by the notary
public pursuant to Section 8214.1.
(2) The journal shall be in addition to and apart from any copies
of notarized documents that may be in the possession of the notary
public and shall include all of the following:
(A) Date, time, and type of each official act.
(B) Character of every instrument sworn to, affirmed,
acknowledged, or proved before the notary.
(C) The signature of each person whose signature is being
notarized.
(D) A statement as to whether the identity of a person making an
acknowledgment or taking an oath or affirmation was based on personal
knowledge or satisfactory evidence. If identity was established by
satisfactory evidence pursuant to Section 1185 of the Civil Code,
then the journal shall contain the signature of the credible witness
swearing or affirming to the identity of the individual or the type
of identifying document, the governmental agency issuing the
document, the serial or identifying number of the document, and the
date of issue or expiration of the document.
(E) If the identity of the person making the acknowledgment or
taking the oath or affirmation was established by the oaths or
affirmations of two credible witnesses whose identities are proven
upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence, the type of
identifying documents, the identifying numbers of the documents and
the dates of issuance or expiration of the documents presented by the
witnesses to establish their identity.
(F) The fee charged for the notarial service.
(G) If the document to be notarized is a deed, quitclaim deed, or
deed of trust affecting real property, the notary public shall
require the party signing the document to place his or her right
thumbprint in the journal. If the right thumbprint is not available,
then the notary shall have the party use his or her left thumb, or
any available finger and shall so indicate in the journal. If the
party signing the document is physically unable to provide a
thumbprint or fingerprint, the notary shall so indicate in the
journal and shall also provide an explanation of that physical
condition. This paragraph shall not apply to a trustee's deed
resulting from a decree of foreclosure or a nonjudicial foreclosure
pursuant to Section 2924 of the Civil Code, nor to a deed of
reconveyance.
(b) If a sequential journal of official acts performed by a notary
public is stolen, lost, misplaced, destroyed, damaged, or otherwise
rendered unusable as a record of notarial acts and information, the
notary public shall immediately notify the Secretary of State by
certified or registered mail. The notification shall include the
period of the journal entries, the notary public commission number,
and the expiration date of the commission, and when applicable, a
photocopy of any police report that specifies the theft of the
sequential journal of official acts.
(c) Upon written request of any member of the public, which
request shall include the name of the parties, the type of document,
and the month and year in which notarized, the notary shall supply a
photostatic copy of the line item representing the requested
transaction at a cost of not more than thirty cents ($0.30) per page.
(d) The journal of notarial acts of a notary public is the
exclusive property of that notary public, and shall not be
surrendered to an employer upon termination of employment, whether or
not the employer paid for the journal, or at any other time. The
notary public shall not surrender the journal to any other person,
except the county clerk, pursuant to Section 8209, or to a peace
officer, as defined in Sections 830.1, 830.2, and 830.3 of the Penal
Code, acting in his or her official capacity and within his or her
authority, in response to a criminal search warrant signed by a
magistrate and served upon the notary public by the peace officer.
The notary public shall obtain a receipt for the journal, and shall
notify the Secretary of State by certified mail within 10 days that
the journal was relinquished to a peace officer. The notification
shall include the period of the journal entries, the commission
number of the notary public, the expiration date of the commission,
and a photocopy of the receipt. The notary public shall obtain a new
sequential journal. If the journal relinquished to a peace officer
is returned to the notary public and a new journal has been obtained,
the notary public shall make no new entries in the returned journal.
A notary public who is an employee shall permit inspection and
copying of journal transactions by a duly designated auditor or agent
of the notary public's employer, provided that the inspection and
copying is done in the presence of the notary public and the
transactions are directly associated with the business purposes of
the employer. The notary public, upon the request of the employer,
shall regularly provide copies of all transactions that are directly
associated with the business purposes of the employer, but shall not
be required to provide copies of any transaction that is unrelated to
the employer's business. Confidentiality and safekeeping of any
copies of the journal provided to the employer shall be the
responsibility of that employer.
(e) The notary public shall provide the journal for examination
and copying in the presence of the notary public upon receipt of a
subpoena duces tecum or a court order, and shall certify those copies
if requested.