S.B. 102

This document includes Senate Committee Amendments incorporated into the bill on Thu, Feb 26, 2004 at 9:21 AM by rday. --> 1

JOURNAL OF NOTARY PUBLIC ACTS
2 2004 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Sponsor: Peter C. Knudson
5
6 LONG TITLE
7 General Description:
8 This bill modifies the Notaries Public Reform Act to address notary journals.
9 Highlighted Provisions:
10 This bill:
11 . requires a notary to keep a journal;
12 . eliminates the requirement that notary journals be public records;
13 . provides an exception related to the Department of Public Safety;
14 . eliminates the provision related to keeping an electronic journal;
15 . addresses inspection of a journal; and
16 . makes technical changes.
17 Monies Appropriated in this Bill:
18 None
19 Other Special Clauses:
20 None
21 Utah Code Sections Affected:
22 AMENDS:
23 46-1-13, as repealed and reenacted by Chapter 287, Laws of Utah 1998
24 46-1-14, as last amended by Chapter 312, Laws of Utah 2000
25 46-1-15, as repealed and reenacted by Chapter 287, Laws of Utah 1998
26
27 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:

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Section 1. Section 46-1-13 is amended to read:
29 46-1-13. Journal shall be kept.
30 (1) A notary [may] shall:
31 (a) keep[,] a journal meeting the requirements of Subsection (2);
32 (b) maintain[,] and protect [as a public record,] the journal described in Subsection
33 (1)(a) in accordance with Section 46-1-15 ; and
34 (c) provide for lawful inspection [a chronological, permanently bound official journal
35 of notarial acts, containing numbered pages.] of the journal described in Subsection (1)(a) in
36 accordance with Section 46-1-15 .
37 (2) A journal that a notary is required to keep under Subsection (1) shall:
38 (a) be the notary's official journal of the information described in Section 46-1-14 ;
39 (b) record notarial acts in chronological order;
40 (c) be permanently bound; and
41 (d) contain numbered pages.
42 Section 2. Section 46-1-14 is amended to read:
43 46-1-14. Entries in journal.
44 (1) For every notarial act, the notary [may] shall record in the journal at the time of
45 notarization the following information including:
46 (a) the date and time of day of the notarial act;
47 (b) the type of notarial act;
48 (c) a description of the document or proceeding;
49 (d) the signature and printed name and address of each person for whom a notarial act
50 is performed;
51 (e) the evidence of identity of each person for whom a notarial act is performed, in the
52 form of [either]:
53 (i) S EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SUBSECTION (4)(b), s a statement that the person is
53a "personally known" to the notary; [or]
54 (ii) a description of:
55 (A) the identification document[, its];
56 (B) the issuing agency[, its] of the identification document;
57 (C) the serial or identification number[,] of the identification document; and [its]
58 (D) the date of issuance or expiration of the identification document; [and] or

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(iii) the signature and printed name and address of a credible witness swearing or
60 affirming to the person's identity; and
61 (f) the fee, if any, charged for the notarial act.
62 (2) A notary may record in the journal the circumstances in refusing to perform or
63 complete a notarial act.
64 (3) [If a notarization is performed electronically, the notary may keep an electronic
65 journal in which to record the information described in Subsections (1) and (2).] All electronic
66 notarizations shall be evidenced by a digital signature.
67 (4) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section and Sections 46-1-13 and
68 46-1-15 , a notary is not required to S [ enter ] MAKE AN ENTRY s in a journal S [ the information
68a described in Subsection
69 (1) or (2) ] s for a notarial act if:
70 (a) (i) S (A) s the notary is an employee of the Department of Public Safety; or
71 S [ (ii) ] (B) s the document notarized by the notarial act is used in the ordinary course of
71a services
72 performed by the Department of Public Safety; and
73 S [ (b) ] (ii) s the Department of Public Safety maintains a copy of the document that is
73a notarized
74 for the time period prescribed by law.
74a S ; OR
74b (b) THE PERSON FOR WHOM A NOTARIAL ACT IS PERFORMED IS PERSONALLY KNOWN TO
74c THE NOTARY s
75 Section 3. Section 46-1-15 is amended to read:
76 46-1-15. Safekeeping and custody of journal -- Inspection of journal.
77 [If a notary maintains a journal, the] (1) A notary shall:
78 [(1)] (a) safeguard the notary's official journal and all other notarial records [as
79 valuable public documents and may not destroy the documents; and];
80 [(2)] (b) keep the notary's official journal in the exclusive custody of the notary[, not
81 to]; and
82 (c) allow inspection of the notary's official journal without restriction:
83 (i) by a law enforcement officer in the course of an official investigation;
84 (ii) if subpoenaed by a court order; or
85 (iii) at the direction of the lieutenant governor.
86 (2) A notary may not destroy the notary's official journal or any other notarial records.
87 (3) A notary's official journal may not:
88 (a) be used by any other notary; or
89 (b) be surrendered to an employer upon termination of employment.

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Legislative Review Note
as of 1-8-04 12:55 PM

A limited legal review of this legislation raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel