Posted by Daniel Bernal on 12/30/08 11:51am
Msg #273095

re upping

Hello there,
My commission terminates next march and I have been flooded with renewal class offers.
I reside in anaheim, Ca (orange county) and wonder if any of you fine folks can recommend a reasonable company at a reasonable rate.
Thank you in advance
Dan

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 12/30/08 12:03pm
Msg #273097

Have you taken the 6-hour course yet or do you need the 3 hour "refresher"? There are still a handful of renewing notaries that haven't taken 6-hour one yet since the requirement started in July 2005.

The one offered here at NotRot is pretty good (see the Notary Public 101 Tab). It's all online. I prefer the online format with individual study, but others prefer a seminar format. As for a seminar? Well... that I have no experience with except that I know most of them only teach you enough to pass the test.

Reply by Daniel Bernal on 12/30/08 8:42pm
Msg #273163

I did take the 6 hr course when I initially became a notary. But all of the advertisements recommend another 6 hr course. Are they trying to eperate me from extra cash or is this a state requirement?

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 12/30/08 9:57pm
Msg #273170

From your handbook - pages 7 & 8 ... in part

"Notary Public Education
" Please note that all persons being appointed, no matter how many commission terms
that person has held in the past, are required to take the initial six-hour course of study.
(Government Code section 8201(a)(3) and (b)) Persons who hold current California notary
public commissions and who have completed an approved six-hour course at least one time
are required to take and satisfactorily complete an approved three-hour refresher course prior
to reappointment as a notary public. In order to meet the requirement to take the three-hour
refresher course, persons must apply for reappointment before the current commission expires.

If the commission expires before application is made for a new commission, a person must
take an approved six-hour course before being reappointed as a notary public, even if the
person previously completed an approved six-hour course.... The Secretary of State compiles a list of all persons offering an approved course of study. This list is available on the Secretary of State’s website or can be mailed to you upon request. Please refer to the inside front cover of this handbook for the Secretary of State’s website address for approved education vendors and for our mailing address. (Government Code section 8201.2)"

Reply by jba/fl on 12/30/08 10:06pm
Msg #273171

Re: From your handbook - pages 7 & 8 ... in part

All this may be wasted unless you call and read this aloud...if it wasn't read before, why now?

OK, last guttersnipe of the year - promise. And I will not take lashes w/wet noodle! final!

Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/31/08 3:18am
Msg #273178

Daniel, I renewed earlier this year and took the course available here online. I thought it was very good. (Except for one inaccuracy about using "personally known" for ID, which has probably been corrected by now. That was right after the law had changed.) After passing the Notary Rotary test, the commission test was easy, but I didn't try to slide by. Even though this was for my third commission, I spent more than six hours going through the whole thing. It thought it was worth it and I highly recommend this program.

BTW, in case you haven't already figured it out, you WILL have to take the six hour class. There hasn't been enough time since the law passed requiring EVERY notary to take the 6-hr class for anyone to have yet come up for renewal if they took the mandatory classes since the new law went into effect.

As some of the others have alluded to, you should have known this. I suggest you bookmark the SOS website (http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/notary.htm) and check in there at least once a year. Laws change and it's our responsibility to stay on top of those changes. The SOS website also includes a newsletter (and usually mails them to all commissioned notaries, I believe), so there should be no excuse for not staying on top of the latest requirements. The consequences of not knowing the law can be greater than losing your commission...