Legislation
State: Texas
Signed: June 10, 2023
Effective: September 01, 2023
Chapter: 468
Summary
House Bill 255 prohibits a Notary from improperly using a seal, allows a Notary to record a government-issued ID card or U.S. passport expiration date in the Notary’s record book, and increases the fees a Notary may charge for most notarial acts.
Affects
Amends Sections 406.013, 406.014 and 406.024 of the Texas Government Code.
Changes
Notary Seal
- Prohibits a Notary from providing a copy of the Notary’s seal to another person.
- Prohibits a Notary from affixing or attaching the Notary’s seal to any document except to authenticate the Notary’s official act.
Notary Journal
- Provides that if a signer, grantor or maker of an instrument or document presents to a Notary an identification card issued by a governmental agency or a passport issued by the United States, the Notary may record the identification card or passport expiration date in the Notary’s book of records.
Notary Fees
- Increases the maximum fee a Notary may charge for taking the acknowledgment or proof of a deed or other written instrument to be registered from $6 to $10.
- Increases the maximum fee a Notary may charge for administering an oath or affirmation from $6 to $10.
- Increases the maximum fee a Notary may charge for a certificate under seal not otherwise provided for from $6 to $10.
- Increases the fee a Notary may charge for providing a copy of a record or paper in the Notary’s office from 50¢ to $1 per page.
- Increases the fee a Notary may charge for taking the deposition of a witness from 50¢ per 100 words to $1 per 100 words.
- Increases the fee a Notary may charge for a notarial act not provided for from $6 to $10.
- Requires the Secretary of State to adjust the fees a Notary may charge once every 5 years based on the inflation rate determined by the comptroller, calculated using the increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
AnalysisHouse Bill 255 makes important changes to Texas’s Notary Public law. First, it provides a statutory basis for a Notary to decline a request to provide someone with a copy of the Notary’s seal or to improperly affix or attach the Notary’s seal to a document. Second, it allows a Notary to record the expiration date of a government-issued ID card or U.S. passport in the Notary’s record book. Finally, it increases the fees a Notary may charge for most notarial acts for the first time in 28 years. The law contains an interesting provision ensuring the fees a Notary may charge will be increased in the future based on the rate of inflation.
“One of the primary functions of a notary public is to attempt to decrease the risk of fraud. Current law, however, prevents notaries public from recording information, such as the expiration date of identification documents presented to them, that may assist in that core function. What's more, notaries public do not have a statutory mechanism to decline a request to affix a notary's seal improperly, which could be exploited easily by a person looking to commit fraud. At the same time, notaries public have raised concerns about the legislative cap on what they can charge for their services, which does not keep up with inflation and has not been updated since the 1990s.” (From the author/sponsor’s statement of intent in engrossed bill analysis.)
Read House Bill 255.