A new California law will eventually authorize California Notaries to perform remote online notarizations — but not until the bill takes effect, which could take several years.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 696 into law as Chapter 291 of the Laws of 2023 on September 30. However, online notarizations cannot be performed in the Golden State until the California Secretary of State completes its technology project to implement the new laws or by January 1, 2030, whichever comes first.
However, on January 1, 2029, if the Secretary is not ready to meet the January 1, 2030, implementation date, it can report back to the Legislature and Governor and the implementation date could be extended past January 1, 2030.
What to expect when SB 696 goes into effect
When the new law finally takes effect, California Notaries will have the option to perform remote notarizations if they meet the following requirements:
Register to perform online notarizations with the California Secretary of State.
Take a 2-hour course and pass an examination on online notarization.
Use an enhanced multi-factor means of identifying individuals appearing remotely for an online notarization.
Keep both a tangible (paper) and an electronic journal of each online notarization.
Maintain an audio-video recording of each online notarization.
Use only approved online notarization platforms to perform online notarizations.
Senate Bill 696 also contains robust personal information and consumer protections, rigorous approval standards for platform providers, requirements for remote online notarization platforms that use Notaries of other states to perform remote online notarizations for Californians located in the Golden State, and provisions ensuring that notarial and online notarial acts performed elsewhere will be legally recognized in California. Why will it take so long for the law to take effect? While Senate Bill 696 ensures California has formally approved online notarizations in its laws, it still may be the last state to practically implement them. Three other states — Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina — have yet to enact their own laws, and a few others have not yet put their own laws into effect. It is very possible that these remaining states will have their laws in place and operational before California’s law is implemented. It’s likely that “clean-up” legislation next year will address remaining issues that did not make it into Senate Bill 696. After that, the Secretary of State will draft and adopt rules and regulations on several matters required by the new law. The NNA will continue to monitor remote notarization developments in California and update our readers as more information becomes available.
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