The National Notary Association needs your help to ensure that California Signing Agents continue to operate their own independent businesses under the new “Uber and Lyft” independent contractor law. This law put California Notary businesses at risk by threatening their flexibility to control when and how much they work, to control how they perform notarizations and loan signings, and to choose the companies they work for.
The sweeping labor law, which went into effect on January 1, created a strict ABC test that hiring companies must use to determine if the 3rd party workers they hire should be classified as employees. Notaries and other independent contractors do not have a say in the decision.
While the NNA believes that California Signing Agents pass the ABC test, Notaries were never specifically exempted in state statute. But a new follow-up bill now being considered by the state legislature, AB 1850, could change that if we rally together to get Notaries exempted.
“In reviewing AB 1850 we discovered that real estate appraisers were granted an exemption. That convinced us to work with our lobbyist in Sacramento to secure an exemption for Notaries just to be safe,” said Bill Anderson, the NNA’s Vice President of Government Affairs. “The risk is too great. If you are classified as an employee, your hiring companies will control your schedule and the way you perform loan signings, you could be squeezed out of jobs, and you will have less time to provide notarial services directly to the public on your off hours.”
How You Can Help
At this critical juncture we are asking California Signing Agents to write a letter to AB 1850 author Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez to declare how devastating the new law will be to your small business and respectfully request an exemption for Notaries. Further, we ask that you send these letters via email directly to the NNA at nna@nationalnotary.org — not to Gonzalez — so that our lobbyist can deliver them all to the Assemblywoman’s office in person, and in bulk.
When writing your letter, it is critical that you follow these important steps:
- Write an original letter in your own words.
- Write the letter on your business letterhead. This is extremely important, because writing a letter on your business letterhead tells Sacramento you are a small business that is impacted by the bill. If you don’t have a business letterhead, you can design one and write your letter for free at Canva.
- Address your letter to the Honorable Lorena Gonzalez, California State Assembly, State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0080.
- Use the following talking points in your letter:
- We have operated a Notary Signing Agent or mobile Notary business for _____ years.
- We have conducted _____ loan signings to California consumers buying or refinancing their homes.
- Notary Signing Agents are commissioned through the Secretary of State as Notaries Public and perform notarial acts for a variety of clients.
- We are small business owners who have chosen this line of work because of the flexibility to control when and how much we work, perform loan signings the way we want and choose the companies we work for.
- Working as an independent contractor has given me the flexibility to _________ (juggle family commitments, go to school to further my education, earn additional income to supplement my regular employment, etc.)
- Without an exemption, there will be fewer California Notaries available to notarize home loan papers, healthcare powers of attorney, adoption papers, and estate planning documents for Californians.
- Close your letter with I respectfully request an exemption for California Notary Signing Agents in AB 1850.
- Sign your letter in your own handwriting. Emails and letters without a handwritten signature will not be counted.
- Email your letter by June 19, 2020 to: The NNA at nna@nationalnotary.org; and to Erinn Ryberg, the NNA’s lobbyist, at eryberg@caladvocates.com
For more information about the new worker classification law, please view The ABCs Every California NSA Must Know and Do Notaries Meet the ABCs of California’s New Workers’ Rights Law? in the Notary Bulletin.