SB 193

Abstract

This Act adopts the Uniform Law Commission’s (“ULC”) Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (“Revised Uniform Law”). As our State continues to recover from COVID-19, chief among the changes in the Revised Uniform Law relevant to our State’s current situation are those that permit notarial acts to be performed for a remotely located individual, an individual who is not in the physical presence of the individual performing the notarial act. These revisions include recent amendments made by the ULC to respond to areas the law needed to address discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need to have tangible documents ink-signed and notarized and the administration of oaths taken by remotely located individuals. Adoption of this Act will expand on Governor Carney’s authorization for remote notarization to be performed by licensed Delaware attorneys by allowing all notarial officers authority to perform remote notarization. In addition to including provisions similar to those from the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts that provide integrity in the process of performing notarial acts, the Revised Uniform Law does the following: (1) Provides the authority to notarize electronic documents on par with notarization of tangible documents, including authority for the Secretary of State to regulate notarization of electronic documents. (2) Requires a notary public to maintain a journal of all notarial acts the notary public performs. (3) Adopts new licensing procedures for notaries public, including minimum requirements for commissioning and grounds to deny, suspend, or revoke commissions. (4) Prohibits a notary public from acting in a deceptive or fraudulent manner. Current Delaware law on notarial acts is an adoption of the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, approved by the Uniform Law Commission in 1982. This Act would bring Delaware law on notarial acts into conformity with at least 19 other states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, which both currently allow remote notarization and notarization of electronic records.