AB 625, as introduced, Quirk. Notaries Public: acceptance of identification.
(1) Existing law relating to property transfers specifies certain documents as allowable forms of identification for a credible witness, who, by oath or affirmation, attests to the identity of an individual executing a written instrument in the presence of, and acknowledged by, a notary public. Existing law specifies that an inmate identification card that is current or has been issued within 5 years by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation if the inmate is in custody is an allowable form of identification, for purposes of these provisions, if it contains certain identifying information, including a photograph and description of the person named on it, is signed by the person, and has a serial or other identifying number.
This bill would make that inmate identification card without that additional identifying information an allowable form of identification for a credible witness to prove the identity of an individual who executes a written instrument.
(2) Existing law requires a notary public when notarizing a document that purports to identify the affiant, as specified, to verify the affiant’s identity using either a certified copy of the person’s birth certificate or an identification card or a driver’s license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
This bill would also authorize a notary public to accept as verification, an inmate identification card issued by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares the following:
2(a) The state and its counties have a financial and public safety
3interest in ensuring the children of people convicted of felonies
4and sentenced to state prison time have access to appropriate
5schooling and medical treatment. Eighty percent of imprisoned
6women are mothers and the vast majority were the primary care
7provider of minor children at the time of their arrest and
8imprisonment. These minor children’s access to school and medical
9treatment may be unnecessarily interrupted should their
10incarcerated parent lack timely and affordable access to a notary
11necessary for them to complete paperwork to establish temporary
12guardianship for their children.
13(b) The state and its counties have a financial and public safety
14interest in ensuring people convicted of felonies and sentenced to
15state prison time are able to successfully reenter their communities
16upon completion of their sentences and live a crime-free life.
17Evidence-based research demonstrates a clear connection between
18decreased recidivism rates and strength of familial bonds during
19periods of incarceration. These bonds are weakened when minor
20children are unnecessarily prevented from visiting incarcerated
21parents due merely to the incarcerated parents’ lack of timely and
22affordable access to a notary public required to complete required
23visitation forms.
24(c) The state has taken significant measures to assure due process
25and accuracy in determining the identity of people convicted of
26felonies and held in control of the Department of Corrections and
27Rehabilitation, and in
tracking these individuals’ appropriate
28identity through issuance and monitoring of state inmate
29identification cards.
Section 1185 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
(a) The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be
2taken unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the
3person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is
4described in and who executed the instrument.
5(b) For purposes of this section “satisfactory evidence” means
6the absence of information, evidence, or other circumstances that
7would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person making
8the acknowledgment is not the individual he or she claims to be
9and any one of the following:
10(1) (A) The oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally
11known to the officer, whose identity is proven to the officer upon
12presentation of a document satisfying the
requirements of paragraph
13(3) or (4), that the person making the acknowledgment is personally
14known to the witness and that each of the following are true:
15(i) The person making the acknowledgment is the person named
16in the document.
17(ii) The person making the acknowledgment is personally known
18to the witness.
19(iii) That it is the reasonable belief of the witness that the
20circumstances of the person making the acknowledgment are such
21that it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to
22obtain another form of identification.
23(iv) The person making the acknowledgment does not possess
24any of the identification documents named in paragraphs (3) and
25(4).
26(v) The witness does not
have a financial interest in the
27document being acknowledged and is not named in the document.
28(B) A notary public who violates this section by failing to obtain
29the satisfactory evidence required by subparagraph (A) shall be
30subject to a civil penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars
31($10,000). An action to impose this civil penalty may be brought
32by the Secretary of State in an administrative proceeding or a public
33prosecutor in superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil
34judgment. A public prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any
35civil penalty imposed under this subparagraph.
36(2) The oath or affirmation under penalty of perjury of two
37credible witnesses, whose identities are proven to the officer upon
38the presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of
39paragraph (3) or (4), that each statement in paragraph (1) is true.
P4 1(3) Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the officer of any
2one of the following, if the document is current or has been issued
3within five years:
4(A) An identification card or driver’s license issued by the
5Department of Motor Vehicles.
6(B) A passport issued by the Department of State of the United
7States.
8(C) An inmate identification card issued by the Department of
9Corrections and Rehabilitation if the inmate is in custody.
10(4) Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the
11following, provided that a document specified in subparagraphs
12(A) tobegin delete (F)end deletebegin insert
(E)end insert, inclusive, shall either be current or have been issued
13within five years and shall contain a photograph and description
14of the person named on it, shall be signed by the person, shall bear
15a serial or other identifying number, and, in the event that the
16document is a passport, shall have been stamped by the United
17States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of
18Homeland Security:
19(A) A passport issued by a foreign government.
20(B) A driver’s license issued by a state other than California or
21by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue
22driver’s licenses.
23(C) An identification card issued by a state other than California.
24(D) An identification card issued by any branch of the Armed
25
Forces of the United States.
26(E) An inmate identification card issued on or after January 1,
271988, by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the
28inmate is in custody.
29(F)
end delete
30begin insert(E)end insert An employee identification card issued by an agency or
31office of the State of California, or by an agency or office of a city,
32county, or city and county in this state.
33(G) An inmate identification card issued prior to January 1,
341988, by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the
35inmate is in custody.
36(c) An officer who has taken an acknowledgment pursuant to
37this section shall be presumed to have operated in accordance with
38the provisions of law.
39(d) A party who files an action for damages based on the failure
40of the officer to establish the proper identity of the person making
P5 1the acknowledgment shall have the burden of proof in establishing
2the negligence or misconduct of the officer.
3(e) A person convicted of perjury under this section shall forfeit
4any financial interest in the document.
Section 8230 of the Government Code is amended to
6read:
If a notary public executes a jurat and the statement
8sworn or subscribed to is contained in a document purporting to
9identify the affiant, and includes the birthdate or age of the person
10and a purported photograph or finger or thumbprint of the person
11so swearing or subscribing, the notary public shall require, as a
12condition to executing the jurat, that the person verify the birthdate
13or age contained in the statement by showingbegin delete eitherend deletebegin insert any of the
14followingend insert:
15(a) A certified copy of the person’s birth certificate, or
16(b) An identification card or driver’s license issued by the
17Department of Motor Vehicles.
18(c) An inmate identification card issued by the Department of
19Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody.
20For the purposes of preparing for submission of forms required
21by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, and
22only for such purposes, a notary public may also accept for
23identification any documents or declarations acceptable to the
24United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.
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