Posted by Lavergne Manuel on 6/17/11 3:59pm
Msg #386689

One Step forward and two steps backwards.

Our Alabama Legislature raised our Notarization fee from .50 to $5.00, raised our Bond from $10,000.00 to $25,000.00 and then took away the notary journal requirements. They were doing OK until they got to the Journal. I have always used one and will continue to use one. The Notaries who have never used one will certainly now never use one.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 6/17/11 4:09pm
Msg #386692

Did they have a reason for doing away with the Journal?? It sounds like they were finally bringing things into the 21st century up to that point...

Reply by Lavergne Manuel on 6/17/11 4:17pm
Msg #386693

They said no one used one anyway. And the ones who works in bank and attorney's offices don't but there are a lot of us who do. No one asked us.

Reply by Moneyman/TX on 6/17/11 5:12pm
Msg #386701

So they thought that no one was following the current law so they should just toss it out? Wow!

They should have kept it and enforced its use, IMO. Glad to see you can now get a decent fee for your services.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 6/18/11 4:10pm
Msg #386826

"They said no one used one anyway."

Wait, let me get this straight - notaries were ignoring the requirement to use a journal, so rather than adding some teeth to the law these knuckleheads just eliminated the requirement altogether?

I'm not sure I follow their thought process... actually, I'm not sure there even WAS a thought process involved.

At least you got a raise in what you can charge per notarization, so that's a good thing.

Reply by Tonya Grimes on 6/17/11 4:19pm
Msg #386694

http://www.nationalnotary.org/bulletin/Bulletin_Articles/a_message_to_nna_members_from_alabama_secretary_of_state_beth_chapman.html?&WT.mc_id=2057&referID=A44090&utm_source=buletn&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=A44090

Letter from Beth Chapman - Alabama SOS

Reply by Tonya Grimes on 6/17/11 4:20pm
Msg #386695

Is there a place online where we can get a copy of the modified statues?

Reply by Lavergne Manuel on 6/17/11 5:10pm
Msg #386700

Not at this time. It still has to be signed by the Governor and if he signs it, it will go into effect January 1, 2012. I knew they had raised the fee to become a Notary from $1.00 to $10.00, raised the Bond from $10,000.00 to $25,000.00 and raised the Notarizations from .50 to $5.00 but I had no idea they had elimanated the requirements for a Journal. I had asked my State Representative to try to get us $10.00 per Notarization but he was able to only get $5.00 which is 10 times more than what we had.

Alabama has approximately 66,800 notaries and I hope the increase in the Bond will cause a lot of them to not renew their commission.

Reply by MW/VA on 6/18/11 8:53am
Msg #386772

I'm sort of glad to hear that they've done away with the journal requirement. IMO the concept is outdated & antiquated.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 6/18/11 9:08am
Msg #386777

Oh wow Marilynn....I totally disagree

Though the journal requirement may be one of the oldest concepts, I think nowadays more than EVER it should be mandatory nationwide - that journal is our record of identification - short of keeping copies of people's ID's (which I wouldn't do) it's my opinion the journal is vital in protecting US...

Reply by Tonya Grimes on 6/18/11 9:29am
Msg #386782

Re: Oh wow Marilynn....I totally disagree

I agree. I will continue keeping my journal (required or not). I will also continue obtaining thumbprints for real estate transactions until the State says that I can't.

To remove the requirement for a journal is just plain crazy-but then, we are in Alabama.

Reply by MW/VA on 6/18/11 4:00pm
Msg #386825

Except that "back in the day" they didn't make photocopies

of the ID's, which we return with the loan pkgs.

Reply by Lavergne Manuel on 6/18/11 5:09pm
Msg #386831

Re: To Get Something Done, We Have To Do Something!

I had just prepared a list of things that I would like to see introduced next Legislative session
and one of the things was that when someone reapplied for their commission, they would have to bring their Register in to be verified and stamped stating they had one and it was being used.

I will still talk to my State Senator and State Representative and ask them to introduce a Bill to reinstate the requirement for Registers along with the reasons why we need Registers and why we need to have their Register use verified. And I have not given up on an Alabama Notary Handbook but like my State Respresentive said, "We will have to do a little at a time."

All Alabama Notaries Need to be involved. Last year I contacted 209 Signing Agents from Notary Rotary Site, and the NNA Site but when the smoke cleared, I was the only ones left standing. Some of them said that pushing for a Handbook, would cause attorney's to push for an Attorney only State like Georgia. I don't see their reasoning but if they help me or not, I will try for a little each year as long as I can get someone to listen to me.

But if we had Notaries who would talk to their politicans accross the state, I believe we would accomplish something.

I don't usually post unless I have something important to say and I believe this is important. The politicians listened a little this year and if we had a lot of notaries talking to them, they might listen more and more each year.

But we can't sit back and say Nothing will happen because Nothing will happen unless we try to make it happen.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/19/11 1:27am
Msg #386851

Re: To Get Something Done, We Have To Do Something!

Regarding the comment about sending ID photocopies and the concern about Alabama becoming an attorney-only state, I think it's important to keep in mind that it's likely that most documents that get notarized have nothing to do with loans. I'm sure attorneys have no interest in getting involved in mundane (compared to most other legal work) notarization of documents.

As for the journal requirement, I don't see where having a photocopy of an ID has any bearing on whether or not a record of the transaction should be kept. I've personally heard of at least one case where someone who attempted to commit fraud was identified by a thumbprint in a journal and brought to trial. There have been numerous posts here over time about how a journal entry can come in handy for the notary, as well.

Reply by Lavergne Manuel on 6/19/11 6:55am
Msg #386855

Re: To Get Something Done, We Have To Do Something!

You are absolutely right. The Journal can be the Notaries best friend. You may make 1,000 entries and not need it but you may need it once and that once along could keep you out of trouble. It could at least prove that you were there and did such and such a notarization and so and so were present.

Some of the Alabama notaries gripe because nothing is being done in Alabama to raise the Status of Notaries, but griping when no one hears does not do a bit of good. We need to talk to the law makers. They are the ones who can change things. But they are as ignorant of what notaries do and unless we as notaries let them know what we need, not much will be done. I can't do very much alone but if others join me we could maybe open the ears of our law makers.

Reply by BrendaTx on 6/18/11 5:24pm
Msg #386833

MW/VA, What would you recommend instead?

No record? An electronic record?

This is a very curious statement.

Reply by Lavergne Manuel on 6/18/11 5:29pm
Msg #386836

Re: MW/VA, What would you recommend instead?

I do not recommend anything instead. I will try to get the Hard Copy Journal back and add some law which would insure that the Journal could be checked to make sure they are being used or if not used than the Notary could be fined or punished in some way.