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NC House Bill 556

Legislation

State: North Carolina
Signed: September 09, 2024

Effective: September 09, 2024
Chapter: 2024-47

Summary

House Bill 556 extends the COVID-19 temporary video notarizations and witnessing provisions and makes other changes to North Carolina’s Remote Electronic Notarization Act.

Affects

Amends Sections 10B-20, 10B-25, 10B-134.1, 10B-134.9, 10B-134.19, and 10B-200 of the North Carolina General Statutes.

Changes
  1. Extends the sunset date of the emergency remote notarial act provisions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic (GS 10B-25) to July 1, 2025.
  2. Extends the sunset date of the emergency remote witnessing provisions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic (GS 10B-200) to July 1, 2025.
  3. Authorizes a Notary to disclose confidential information in response to any of the following: (a) A valid subpoena, (b) A court order; (c) A warrant; (d) A written request from the Department made in connection with an administrative, civil, or criminal investigation into the conduct of a Notary pursuant to G.S. 10B-60 or the conduct of a licensee or third-party vendor pursuant to G.S. 10B-134.23(c); and (e) A written request from all principals to a specific notarial transaction.
  4. Clarifies that except for the exceptions noted above in #3 (GS 10B-20(p)), a Notary Public and Electronic Notary must preserve the confidentiality of a principal's documents and information at all times.
  5. Clarifies that in judicial actions or proceedings, any Notary Public commissioned by (formerly “registered with”) the Secretary, whether or not registered as an Electronic Notary, may administer an oath or affirmation to a principal (formerly "witness") that does not require remote electronic notarization of a record or a notarial certificate and seal when done in person.
  6. Defines "geolocation" as identification of the geographical location of a remotely located principal or device used by a remotely located principal through the use of global positioning systems or other digital information processed via the internet.
  7. Provides that if technology becomes available so that geolocation may be broadly utilized without a global positioning system to determine geographic location of remotely located principals to a remote electronic notarization, the Secretary of State shall amend permanent rules adopted pursuant to Chapter 10B of the General Statutes to include processes and requirements for the use of geolocation technology in remote electronic notarization in accordance with Part 4A of Article 2 of Chapter 10B of the General Statutes.
Analysis

It is not often that a legislature votes to override a governor’s veto, but that is what happened with House Bill 556. The changes outlined above were carried in a tenancy bill. The Governor’s veto message said the bill would make it harder for low-income families, the elderly, and people with disabilities to find affordable housing.

The changes to the Notary statutes extend the temporary video notarization and witnessing provisions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic until July 1, 2025. At that time, the Secretary of State plans to be ready to implement the Remote Electronic Notarization Act. The provisions noted under “Changes” #3-#7 above take effect retroactively to July 1, 2024, but they won’t be implemented until the Secretary of State has completed its lengthy rulemaking begun last year and that likely will continue into 2025.

Read House Bill 556.

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