Posted by Joe Ewing on 6/7/07 2:37pm
Msg #194061

Email from the NNA

June 7, 2007

Dear California Notary:

We need your help!

A bill before the California Senate Judiciary Committee would regulate for the first time the number of days a Notary has to comply with requests to provide members of the public with copies of the Notary’s journal entries. Notaries who don’t comply with such requests by the deadline may be fined up to $1,500 in addition to disciplinary sanctions.

Assembly Bill 434, as originally proposed, would have given Notaries 15 days to comply with records requests — half the time that attorneys typically are given to fulfill such requests for court purposes. The National Notary Association successfully negotiated with the bill sponsor an amendment that increased the deadline to 30 days. But we have learned that there is pressure in the Senate Judiciary Committee to roll back our proposal. Please show your support for the 30-day time period so that all 292,000 Notaries in California are guaranteed the same rights and considerations others are given. It’s a matter of fairness and equity.

We urge you to call or email the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and express your support for giving Notaries a full 30 days to fulfill requests for copies of journal records. The names, phone numbers and email addresses of the members of this committee are below. Additionally, we have attached a sample letter that you may tailor to your personal situation, and email to the members of the committee.

If you have questions about this proposal or would like to know how to become further involved in our campaign to support Notaries, please contact the NNA’s Public Affairs Department at (818) 739-4000, Ext. 4024.


* I don't understand. The current requirement is 30 days if a client requests in writing and includes the name of signer, the month and year signed and the type of notarization. The bill want's to roll it back to 15. The NNA proposed an ammendment to make it 30 days. How about just tossing out the bill? What else in in the bill that the NNA approves of?

Reply by Rickwoca on 6/7/07 4:10pm
Msg #194077

More from a no good company.

Reply by Rickwoca on 6/7/07 4:10pm
Msg #194078

More from a no good company.

Reply by Gerry_VT on 6/7/07 4:19pm
Msg #194080

It does not matter to me, not being from California, but it seems to me that the bill is poorly drafted, in that it does not specify what to do if the request is presented by e-mail, paper mail, or messenger, and the requester failed to provide a self-addressed stamped envelope, or the equivalent. I also suggest that it is illegal, under the federal ESIGN law, in that notaries the bill favors photostats over electronic copies of the notary's journal.

Reply by SD/CA on 6/7/07 5:21pm
Msg #194096

If I get a request for copies, it has to be in writing and from some one with the need to know.

Reply by Joe Ewing on 6/7/07 6:23pm
Msg #194105

Jim Silva has proposed to change Notary Code 8602 to shorten the time that a notary must respond to a request from 30 days to 15 business days. There is no change in the requirement that the request be in writing. The info must be returned by Fax for privacy purposes.

Reply by BrendaTx on 6/7/07 6:40pm
Msg #194108

What could possibly be the impetus for changing from 30 to 15 days?

Reply by Joe Ewing on 6/7/07 7:09pm
Msg #194122

It's too complicated for mear notaries to comprehend.