Amended in Senate June 26, 2013

Amended in Senate June 10, 2013

Amended in Senate May 24, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 625

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

February 20, 2013

An act to amend Section 1185 of the Civil Code, begin delete and to amend end delete begin delete Section 8230 of the Government Code, end delete relating to notaries begin insert public end insert .

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 625, as amended, Quirk. Notaries begin delete Public: end delete begin insert public: end insert acceptance of identification.

begin delete

(1) Existing

end delete

begin insert Existing end insert 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 recast those provisions to make an inmate identification card that is current or has been issued within 5 years by the department, if the inmate is in custody in prison, an allowable form of identification for a credible witness to prove the identity of an individual who executes a written instrument, and to delete the requirement that the card have the additional identifying information.

begin delete

(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.

end delete begin delete

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 identification card contains the inmate’s date of birth and the inmate is in custody in prison.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) The state and its counties have a financial and public safety
interest in ensuring the children of people convicted of felonies
and sentenced to state prison time have access to appropriate
schooling and medical treatment. Eighty percent of imprisoned
women are mothers and the vast majority were the primary care
provider of minor children at the time of their arrest and
imprisonment. These minor children’s access to school and medical
treatment may be unnecessarily interrupted should their
incarcerated parent lack timely and affordable access to a notary
necessary for them to complete paperwork to establish temporary
guardianship for their children.

(b) The state and its counties have a financial and public safety
interest in ensuring people convicted of felonies and sentenced to
state prison time are able to successfully reenter their communities
upon completion of their sentences and live a crime-free life.
Evidence-based research demonstrates a clear connection between
decreased recidivism rates and strength of familial bonds during
periods of incarceration. These bonds are weakened when minor
children are unnecessarily prevented from visiting incarcerated
parents due merely to the incarcerated parents’ lack of timely and
affordable access to a notary public required to complete required
visitation forms.

(c) The state has taken significant measures to ensure due
process and accuracy in determining the identity of people
convicted of felonies and held in control of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, and in tracking these individuals’
appropriate identity through issuance and monitoring of state
inmate identification cards.

SEC. 2.  

Section 1185 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

1185.  

(a) The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be
taken unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the
person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is
described in and who executed the instrument.

(b) For purposes of this section, “satisfactory evidence” means
the absence of information, evidence, or other circumstances that
would lead a reasonable person to believe that the person making
the acknowledgment is not the individual he or she claims to be
and any one of the following:

(1) (A) The oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally
known to the officer, whose identity is proven to the officer upon
presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of paragraph
(3) or (4), that the person making the acknowledgment is personally
known to the witness and that each of the following are true:

(i) The person making the acknowledgment is the person named
in the document.

(ii) The person making the acknowledgment is personally known
to the witness.

(iii) That it is the reasonable belief of the witness that the
circumstances of the person making the acknowledgment are such
that it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to
obtain another form of identification.

(iv) The person making the acknowledgment does not possess
any of the identification documents named in paragraphs (3) and
(4).

(v) The witness does not have a financial interest in the
document being acknowledged and is not named in the document.

(B) A notary public who violates this section by failing to obtain
the satisfactory evidence required by subparagraph (A) shall be
subject to a civil penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars
($10,000). An action to impose this civil penalty may be brought
by the Secretary of State in an administrative proceeding or a public
prosecutor in superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil
judgment. A public prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any
civil penalty imposed under this subparagraph.

(2) The oath or affirmation under penalty of perjury of two
credible witnesses, whose identities are proven to the officer upon
the presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of
paragraph (3) or (4), that each statement in paragraph (1) is true.

(3) Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the officer of any
one of the following, if the document is current or has been issued
within five years:

(A) An identification card or driver’s license issued by the
Department of Motor Vehicles.

(B) A passport issued by the Department of State of the United
States.

(C) An inmate identification card issued by the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody in prison.

(4) Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the
following, provided that a document specified in subparagraphs
(A) to (E), inclusive, shall either be current or have been issued
within five years and shall contain a photograph and description
of the person named on it, shall be signed by the person, shall bear
a serial or other identifying number, and, in the event that the
document is a passport, shall have been stamped by the United
States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of
Homeland Security:

(A) A passport issued by a foreign government.

(B) A driver’s license issued by a state other than California or
by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue
driver’s licenses.

(C) An identification card issued by a state other than California.

(D) An identification card issued by any branch of the Armed
Forces of the United States.

(E) An employee identification card issued by an agency or
office of the State of California, or by an agency or office of a city,
county, or city and county in this state.

(c) An officer who has taken an acknowledgment pursuant to
this section shall be presumed to have operated in accordance with
the provisions of law.

(d) A party who files an action for damages based on the failure
of the officer to establish the proper identity of the person making
the acknowledgment shall have the burden of proof in establishing
the negligence or misconduct of the officer.

(e) A person convicted of perjury under this section shall forfeit
any financial interest in the document.

begin delete

SEC. 3.  

Section 8230 of the Government Code is amended to
read:

8230.  

If a notary public executes a jurat and the statement
sworn or subscribed to is contained in a document purporting to
identify the affiant, and includes the birthdate or age of the person
and a purported photograph or fingerprint or thumbprint of the
person so swearing or subscribing, the notary public shall require,
as a condition to executing the jurat, that the person verify the
birthdate or age contained in the statement by showing any of the
following:

(a) A certified copy of the person’s birth certificate.

(b) An identification card or driver’s license issued by the
Department of Motor Vehicles.

(c) An inmate identification card issued by the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate identification card
contains the inmate’s date of birth and the inmate is in custody in
prison.

For the purposes of preparing for submission of forms required
by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, and
only for these purposes, a notary public may also accept for
identification any documents or declarations acceptable to the
United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.

end delete