Posted by A S Johnson on 5/4/13 10:08am
Msg #468719

Texas Notary Education Debate

2 xyz pushed bills have bee presented to the Texas House and Senate in reguards to Notary Education. They propose requiring Notary education but leaves open who presents it, i.e. the xyz for profit organization at about $300 per Notary.
My prosposal,
Notary classes through our Texas Junior College system, taught by a Texas State Bar Att'y from a course approved by the Texas SOS, Notary division. Not only would this make the require course close to ever Notary or Notary applicant in the state but would make att'y much more aware of who and what a Notary is.
Texas allready requires an att'y that handles real estate to have a state bar ceritfication as a "fee" att'y so why should not Notaries be required to have a "Texas Title Producers License" with the required coure of training approved by the state and taught by a "fee" att'y. After all the buying, re financing a home is the biggest amount on money most buyer's will have in a lifetime and we do not do that very often.

Reply by Robert522TX on 5/4/13 10:38am
Msg #468728

I thought they had dropped this....

Reply by Lee/AR on 5/4/13 10:43am
Msg #468730

No dog in this fight, but...

If this bill hasn't already been killed, get in touch with every notary you can and let them know what xyz is up to again ($300!!!) Write Senators, Reps, newspapers, holler a LOT about this.

You've got the continuing education idea right. State College courses. NOT, not, not, not xyz!

Reply by A S Johnson on 5/4/13 12:33pm
Msg #468742

Robert, No it has NOT been dropped, BUT it more than likely will not get out of committee.
Question, what about next session? What if a member of the Texas House or Senate tries to attach an Notary education, which is not in the best interest of Texas Notaries, admendment to a bill that is about to be voted on in that chamber, which doesn't have to go to committee.
What would be best is the Texas Notary community gets proactive . Sets up Notary education in a way that is a help to us and does not require monies that go to an out of state for profit organization.
Please understand, Robert, I'm only making suggestions. I'm want to start a debate on this.

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/4/13 7:13pm
Msg #468769

Robert - the bills, I am told, and I have told Sid,

are DEAD in committee. This is from the committee clerks in the capitol.

The only way that they will get through to this Senate at this late date is to be attached to another bill with a similar caption. I will alert Texas notaries immediately through several email lists and networks if this happens.

As to Sid's suggestion of being proactive, I would not even suggest anything without a discussion with the notary administrators (boots on the ground) in the SOS office. In my opinion, the only education requirement that is needed is for notaries to watch the ((((free))))) video on the website of the SOS.

Reply by ikando on 5/4/13 1:58pm
Msg #468749

Because of our proximity, it's highly likely that any proposed legislation in Texas has a probability to be proposed in Oklahoma. I like your idea of having courses through the Community Colleges. Oftentimes the teachers are people who have experience and expertise rather than a degreed teacher. An attorney may be a good choice, but my experience is that attorneys are not that familiar with the notary laws, but it is an option.

My only question is why would you suggest the Title Producers License? I'm not that familiar with what that would add to my capabilities or options for work. Can you enlighten me?

And as was mentioned, getting the word out to all notaries about the potential issue with xyz is still a good idea, whether the bill goes anywhere or not.

Reply by Sandra G Holland on 5/4/13 5:47pm
Msg #468763

I've been a notary for a very long time. I wouldn't mind going to class. What I would mind is everybody and their dog knowing that there is a class to learn about being a notary. I'm not sure whether it would scare off some present notaries about renewing their commissions or whether it would attract new people. I suspect the latter. I like being in an unusual field and not having much competition for what I do.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 5/6/13 12:53am
Msg #468867

Unless you're in a low population area, don't hold your breath. Even if the proposed bill doesn't get out of committee and never becomes law, there's nothing to stop XYZ from holding classes all over the place anyway. If they think they can fill the seats, they'll find a way to promote it - whether it's to become a notary or NSA, or both. As I've posted elsewhere recently, they have scheduled six NSA classes in CA (most in SoCal) just within the next six weeks or so. When they're done here, if the past is any indication, they'll be taking the show on the road. Hopefully you'll be lucky and they'll skip your part of the state.

Get ready, folks, for a whole new batch of newly minted "Certified NSAs" coming to this board to find out how to get clients, how to complete a Name Affidavit, etc., etc., etc... Should be interesting.

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/4/13 7:05pm
Msg #468768

Re: Texas Notary Education Debate - disagree


Sorry, Sid...we part ways on this. If I agreed with you on this, then I would have to embrace the xyz as teachers of TX notaries. We simply don't more monitoring, certifying, licensing, and education!

There is NO EVIDENCE that it is required and I do NOT want more restrictions and government involved in the business of Texas notaries. I am in total disagreement of education requirements that are handled outside of the state's offices. They are doing a fine job! There is ample education for free at the state SOS's website. ((((free))))

Less than .25% (that is POINT 25 PERCENT) of notaries in Texas ever cause problems!

Requiring a TPL is getting more government involvement and restrictions. What good would that do? The states that have this (i.e., Indiana and Maryland) are not able to command better fees. It won't help and it will create expenses and liabilities that you would not believe.

It is 99% impossible to legislate the proposed "Texas college requirement taught by a TX attorney" into law for so many reasons that I cannot even begin to list them. I have been in touch with legislative experts throughout the last few months. It does not work like that and I do not want to go in that direction.

Finally - "Fee attorney" can in no way be related to a need for notary signing agents to become title producers. Notary signing agents are contractors. They do not have permanent relationships to title companies.

My frame of reference is that during the TX refi & HELOC heyday, the term "fee attorney" was used to describe an attorney that established a satellite office for a title company and expanded the capability of that title company to create closing packages. Those attorneys were not necessarily experts in title work, but they could profit by hiring escrow officers to handle the closings because they had acquired a title license. The title work was done in the actual title plant locations. The HUDs were created in the fee offices. The attorney took a cut out of the title premium in addition to profiting from other charges for the closings. In 2007, laws changed on that. You can study it here:
http://www.tdi.texas.gov/bulletins/2007/cc14.html

Just had to get that off my chest.

Reply by HisHughness on 5/5/13 12:12am
Msg #468785

I not only diagree with Brenda, I <forcefully> diagree

I am astonished that, with the interminable flow of complaints about the incompetence of legions of notaries, anyone in a state such as Texas would oppose some industrial strength training for the practitioners of our craft.

Texas is quite laissez faire with respect to the qualifications and competence of notaries. If you can fog a mirror, you can be commissioned. There may be material available on the SOS website to help that to a small degree. There may be quite skeletal written materials about one's responsibilities available when one is commissioned.

But as a practical matter, if you can buy a bond from your insurance agent, and pay the fee to the SOS for the commission, you don't ever actually have to deal with anything that tells you what your responsibilities as a notary public are. A newly commissioned notary public is not required to visit the SOS website, nor read the written material that comes with his commission, not enroll in any of the private courses available.

That needs to change; the bar is far far too low.

What does NOT need to happen is for Texas to follow California's lead in adopting meaningless rules that simply impede the flow of commerce without protecting the public.

As to requiring a TPL, I do not see any need for that at all.

Reply by HisHughness on 5/5/13 12:13am
Msg #468786

Can we make that "disagree?" n/m