The NNA’s Vice President of Government Affairs, Bill Anderson, provides an update to California Notaries about the status of the state’s remote notarization bill, AB 1093:
Assembly Bill 1093, California’s remote notarization bill, is set for a hearing in the Assembly Judiciary Committee this Thursday, January 13, 2022. I am writing to you in advance of the hearing to let you know the National Notary Association has been working hard to make AB 1093 the best bill possible for California Notaries.
The NNA would like to see remote notarization enacted in California, but it must be a bill that will work for you and all California Notaries who perform notarizations for employers, as a professional Notary, or both.
Because a remote notarization bill must be the right bill, we want you to know that we have some concerns with the shape of the bill in its current form.
- We believe AB 1093 should not require you to incur the cost of a separate surety bond and county bond filing fee just to perform remote notarizations.
- We believe AB 1093 should allow you to take one mandatory education course and examination on remote notarization from the education provider of your choice and not a course and examination every time you add or change remote notarization providers.
- Because paper and remote notarial acts affect interstate and national commerce, we believe a remote notarization law in California also must work for consumers and Notaries of every state of our great nation. AB 1093 allows California Notaries to perform remote notarizations for consumers of other states, but it prevents Notaries of other states from performing remote notarizations for consumers located in California. That’s not right or fair.
The NNA has voiced these concerns to the bill author and the author’s staff, the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and to stakeholders that include the Secretary of State, Attorney General, remote notarization platforms, and privacy rights, escrow, land title, mortgage banker, credit union, and Realtor® associations. We have worked — and will continue to work — to represent you and all California Notaries on these and other issues that will affect how you perform remote notarizations in California.
At this time, we are not asking you to do anything. We simply wanted to reach out to inform you of the discussions we’ve been having on AB 1093 and tell you how we feel about the bill. In the weeks ahead, we’ll keep you posted on how the effort is going. If we need you take action on the bill later, we’ll let you know.
If you would like to listen to the hearing, it’s on Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Go to https://ajud.assembly.ca.gov/hearings and look for the link.
In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me at my email address below if I can assist you in any way.
Sincerely,
Bill Anderson
Vice President, Government Affairs
banderson@nationalnotary.org