The VT Office of Professional Regulation will soon be proposing rules to go along with our new notary law. One area will be continuing education, which will be required for those renewing an existing commission starting in 2021. Two hours per two-year term are required. What do you think should count.
If they follow the system they use for other professions, the professional goes online, enters a description of the education, and uploads a completion certificate. The completion certificate is whatever the education provider supplies, there is no set format. The professional also keeps the certificates on file and there will be both random audits, and audits if something doesn't look right.
I hope they will follow the pattern they use for other professionals. Classes that review the fundamentals count, if that's what the professional feels he/she needs. A civil engineer could re-take Physics 101, if that's what she felt rusty on. But the professional can also take advanced classes; a nurse could attend a seminar on the latest treatments for diabetes. Also, a class counts regardless of whether you take it as a student, or you're the teacher. Writing books and magazine articles also count.
I think any of these should count, and the notary should be allowed to take whichever he/she needs:
-Review of fundamentals, similar to what many other states require.
-Any course approved as continuing education for lawyers that mentions notarization. (Lawyers are exempt from notary continuing education, but these courses are often open to the public.)
-Digital signatures, whether it mentions notaries or not.
-Preventing financial abuse of elders, whether notaries are mentioned or not.
-Detecting false IDs, whether notaries are mentioned or not. (So if you're other job is a cash register operator in a supermarket and you get trained to spot fake IDs from high school students who want to buy beer, it should count.)
-Classes on preventing real estate fraud, whether notaries are mentioned or not.
Other thoughts? |