Florida Senate - 2014 CS for SB 172
By the Committee on Commerce and Tourism; and Senator Soto
577-02388-14 2014172c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to notaries public; creating s.
3 117.055, F.S.; requiring a notary public to record
4 specified information in a notarial journal when
5 performing certain notarial acts; requiring that a
6 notary public retain a notarial journal for a
7 specified period; requiring a notary public to notify
8 the Department of State if the notarial journal is
9 lost, stolen, misplaced, destroyed, erased,
10 compromised, rendered unusable, or becomes otherwise
11 inaccessible during the retention period; providing
12 that a notarial journal is the exclusive property of a
13 notary public; requiring a notary public to secure the
14 journal; providing that failure to comply with the
15 notarial journal requirements constitutes grounds for
16 suspension, nonrenewal, or denial of a notary public
17 commission; amending s. 117.10, F.S.; exempting
18 certain acts of specified law enforcement and
19 correctional officers from the notarial journal
20 requirements; providing an effective date.
21
22 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
23
24 Section 1. Section 117.055, Florida Statutes, is created to
25 read:
26 117.055 Notarial journal.—
27 (1) When performing a notarial act that requires notarizing
28 a signature, a notary public shall record the following
29 information in a bound sequential paper journal or an electronic
30 journal that creates sequential and nonmodifiable records:
31 (a) The date and time of the notarial act.
32 (b) The type of notarial act.
33 (c) The type, title, name, or description of the document,
34 proceeding, or transaction requiring the notarial act.
35 (d) The signer’s printed name and signature or, in the case
36 of an electronic journal, the signer’s name and electronic
37 signature pursuant to s. 668.50(2)(h).
38 (e) The signer’s complete residence address.
39 (f) Whether the signer is personally known to the notary
40 public or presented satisfactory evidence of his or her identity
41 pursuant to s. 117.05(5)(b). The notary shall record the type,
42 last 4 digits of the unique identification number, and
43 expiration date of the identification presented.
44 (g) The names of witnesses to the notarial act, if any.
45 (2) A notary public must retain a notarial journal for at
46 least 5 years after the date of the last recorded notarial act
47 in the notarial journal. If a notarial journal is lost, stolen,
48 misplaced, destroyed, erased, compromised, rendered unusable, or
49 becomes otherwise inaccessible during the retention period, the
50 notary public must immediately notify the Department of State in
51 writing of the circumstances of the incident.
52 (3) The notarial journal is the exclusive property of the
53 notary public and must be kept in a locked and secure area,
54 under the direct and exclusive control of the notary public.
55 Access to an electronic notarial journal must be protected by a
56 password or other secure means of authentication.
57 (4) Failure of a notary public to comply with this section
58 constitutes grounds for suspension or nonrenewal of the notary
59 public’s commission and grounds for the denial of a subsequent
60 commission by the Governor.
61 Section 2. Section 117.10, Florida Statutes, is amended to
62 read:
63 117.10 Law enforcement and correctional officers.—Law
64 enforcement officers, correctional officers, and correctional
65 probation officers, as defined in s. 943.10, and traffic
66 accident investigation officers and traffic infraction
67 enforcement officers, as described in s. 316.640, are authorized
68 to administer oaths when engaged in the performance of official
69 duties. Sections 117.01, 117.04, 117.045, 117.05, 117.055, and
70 117.103 do not apply to the provisions of this section. An
71 officer may not notarize his or her own signature.
72 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.
73