Bill Text: MI SB1187 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Occupations: notaries public; extension of certain dates regarding a notary public?s commission and certain notarial acts; provide for. Amends secs. 9, 26c & 26d of 2003 PA 238 (MCL 55.269 et seq.). TIE BAR WITH: SB 1186'20, SB 1189'20, SB 1188'20
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-12-30 - Assigned Pa 0336'20 With Immediate Effect [SB1187 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-SB1187-Enrolled.html
state of michigan
100th Legislature
Regular session of 2020
Introduced by Senator
MacGregor
ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 1187
AN ACT to amend 2003 PA 238, entitled “An act to provide for the qualification, appointment, and regulation of notaries; to provide for the levy, assessment, and collection of certain service charges and fees and to provide for their disposition; to create funds; to provide for liability for certain persons; to provide for the admissibility of evidence; to establish the recognition to be given in this state to acknowledgments and other notarial acts performed outside of this state; to prescribe powers and duties of state agencies and local officers; to provide for remedies and penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending sections 9, 26c, and 26d (MCL 55.269, 55.286c, and 55.286d), section 9 as amended and sections 26c and 26d as added by 2020 PA 249.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 9. (1) The secretary may appoint as a notary public a
person who complies with the requirements of this act.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (4), a notary
public may reside in, move to, and perform notarial acts anywhere in this state
from the date of appointment until the notary’s birthday occurring not less
than 6 years and not more than 7 years after the date of his or her
appointment unless the appointment is canceled, suspended, or revoked by the
secretary or by operation of law.
(3) The secretary shall not appoint as a notary public a
person who is serving a term of imprisonment in a state correctional facility
or jail in this or any other state or in a federal correctional facility.
(4) A notary public’s commission under subsection (2) that
expired after March 1, 2020 and before June 30, 2021 is valid through June
30, 2021.
Sec. 26c. (1)
Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, a notary public may utilize a
2-way real-time audiovisual technology to perform notarial acts electronically
if all of the following requirements are met:
(a) The 2-way real-time audiovisual technology allows direct
interaction between the individual seeking the notary’s services, any
witnesses, and the notary, so that each can communicate simultaneously by sight
and sound through an electronic device or process at the time of the
notarization.
(b) The 2-way real-time audiovisual technology is capable of
creating an audio and visual recording of the complete notarial act and the
recording is made and retained as a notarial record in accordance with section
26b(7) to (9).
(c) The individual seeking the notary’s services and any
required witnesses, if not personally known to the notary, presents
satisfactory evidence of identity to the notary during the video conference,
and does not merely transmit it before or after the transaction, to satisfy the
requirements of this act and any other applicable law.
(d) Subject to subdivision (e), the individual seeking the
notary’s services affirmatively represents that the individual is physically
situated in this state or is physically located outside the geographic
boundaries of this state and that 1 of the following applies:
(i) The record is intended
for filing with or relates to a matter before a court, governmental entity,
public official, or other entity subject to the jurisdiction of this state.
(ii) The record involves property located in the territorial
jurisdiction of this state or a transaction substantially connected to this
state.
(e) If an individual is
physically located outside of the geographic boundaries of this state, the
notary has no actual knowledge that the individual’s act of making the
statement or signing the record is prohibited by the laws of the jurisdiction
in which the individual is physically located.
(f) The individual seeking
the notary’s services, any required witnesses, and the notary are able to affix
their signatures to the record in a manner that renders any subsequent change
or modification of the remote online notarial act to be tamper evident.
(g) The individual
seeking the notary’s services or the individual’s designee transmits by
facsimile, mail, or electronic means a legible copy of the entire signed record
directly to the notary on the same date it was signed. This requirement applies
regardless of the manner in which the record is signed.
(h) Once the notary has
received a legible copy of the record with all necessary signatures, the notary
notarizes the record in accordance with section 27 and transmits the notarized
record back to the individual seeking the notary’s services.
(2) The official date
and time of the notarization performed under this section is the date and time
when the notary witnesses the signature via 2-way real-time audiovisual
technology as required under this section.
(3) Notwithstanding any
other law or regulation of this state, beginning April 30, 2020, and before July
1, 2021, absent an express prohibition in a record
against signing the record in counterparts, a record signed under this act may
be signed in counterparts.
(4) This section applies
to a notarial act described in subsection (1) performed on or after April 30,
2020 and before July 1, 2021.
(5) If a record is
notarized electronically under this section, all of the following apply:
(a) The record does not
need to be notarized under any other provision of this act.
(b) The rights or
interests of a person that relies in good faith and without actual notice that
the record was executed on or after April 30, 2020 and before July 1, 2021 but was not executed or notarized in accordance with
this section are not impaired, challenged, or terminated on that basis alone.
(c) Compliance with this
section is presumed. A person challenging a record notarized under this section
may overcome the presumption by establishing, by clear and convincing evidence,
that the notary or the individual seeking the notary public’s services
intentionally failed to comply with a requirement described in this section.
Sec. 26d. (1) Beginning April 30, 2020, it is the intent of
the legislature that, governmental agencies and officials of this state are
encouraged to use or permit the use of electronic records and electronic
signatures to transact business, process applications, and recognize the
validity of legal instruments, and, when a notarized signature is required by a
law of this state, to use a notary public who performs notarial acts
electronically under this act.
(2) Beginning April 30,
2020, it is the intent of the legislature that, any requirement under the law
of this state that an in-person witness attests to or acknowledges an
instrument, record, or deed is satisfied by the use of 2‑way real-time
audiovisual technology in accordance with section 26c.
(3) Beginning April 30,
2020, it is the intent of the legislature that, any requirement that an
individual appears personally before or be in the presence of either a notary
public at the time of a notarization or a witness at the time of an attestation
or acknowledgment is satisfied if the individual, the witnesses, or the notary
public are not in the physical presence of each other but can communicate
simultaneously by 2-way real-time audiovisual technology in accordance with
section 26c at the time of the notarization, attestation, or acknowledgment.
(4) This section does not apply after June 30, 2021.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect unless all of the following bills of the 100th Legislature are enacted into law:
(a) Senate Bill No. 1186.
(b) Senate Bill No. 1188.
(c) Senate Bill No. 1189.
Secretary of the Senate
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Approved___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Governor