Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
REMOTE AND ELECTRONIC NOTARIZATION SYSTEMS
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 5882 as reported from committee Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Rachel Hood http://www.legislature.mi.gov
House Bill 5883 as reported from committee
Sponsor: Rep. Helena Scott
Committee: Judiciary
Complete to 12-10-24
SUMMARY:
House Bill 5882 would amend the Michigan Law on Notarial Acts (MiLONA) to allow
notaries public, 1 witnesses to a notarial act, and the individuals for whom a notarial act is being
performed to employ a wider variety of communication technologies during the notarization
process.
Notarial act is an act that a notary public commissioned in Michigan is authorized to
perform, including:
• The taking of an acknowledgement.
• The administration of an oath or affirmation.
• The taking of a verification upon oath or affirmation.
• The witnessing or attesting of a signature.
Communication technology means an electronic device or process that does one or
both of the following:
• Allows a notary public and a remotely located individual, including an
individual for whom the notarial act is being performed or a witness to the
notarial act (or other legal transaction), to communicate with each other
simultaneously by sight and sound, and allows the notary public to record and
store an audio or visual recording of the notarial act.
• If necessary, facilitates communication between a notary public and a remotely
located individual who has a vision, hearing, or speech impairment.
Current law allows notaries public to use electronic notarization (“e-notarization”) software,
systems, and platforms for the digital signing, sealing, and authentication of documents, as
long as the platform is approved for use by the secretary of state and the Department of
Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB). However, the provisions of MiLONA
allowing for the use of remote e-notarization platforms (i.e., platforms that also satisfy the
physical presence requirement for notarial acts via the use of two-way real-time audiovisual
technology) expired on June 30, 2021. The bill would amend MiLONA to reinstate these
1
A notary public is an officer commissioned by the secretary of state to serve as an unbiased and impartial witness on
business, public, and other documents, and whose notarization on a document certifies that the person whose signature
appears on the document personally appeared before the notary, established their identity, and personally signed the
document in the presence of the notary.
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 provisions (namely section 26c) to both allow for the use of remote e-notarization platforms
and expand the forms of communication technology that may be used by notaries public to
perform notarial acts for or involving remotely located individuals, as long as the technology
of choice has been approved for use by the secretary of state and DTMB and all of the following
requirements are met:
• The technology allows direct interaction between the individual seeking the notary
public’s services, any witnesses, and the notary public, such that all parties can
communicate simultaneously via sight and sound at the time of the notarization.
• The technology is capable of creating an audio and visual recording of the complete
notarial act and the recording is made and retained as a notarial record.
• The individual seeking the notary public’s services and any required witnesses (if not
personally known to the notary) present satisfactory evidence of their identity to the
notary during the video conference.
• The individual seeking the notary public’s services affirmatively represents that the
individual is physically located in Michigan; if the individual is not physically situated
in Michigan, the notarial record must either involve property in Michigan or be
intended for filing with a matter before an entity subject to the jurisdiction of the state.
• All parties to the notarial act are able to affix their signatures to the record in a manner
that renders subsequent modifications to be tamper evident and the entire signed record
is transmitted to the notary public within two business days of being signed.
The bill would require the secretary of state and DTMB to jointly create and maintain statewide
standards for remote and non-remote e-notarization systems, as well as review these standards
at least once every four years. These entities would also be required to approve the use of any
remote e-notarization platforms that are either a government-sponsored enterprise 2 or already
certified for use in another state. In addition, the bill would allow third-party providers of other
remote e-notarization systems (or a notary public) to submit requests to the secretary of state
and DTMB to approve new remote and non-remote e-notarization systems. These requests
would be reviewed on a rolling basis.
MCL 55.263 et seq. (amended); MCL 55.286d (repealed); MCL 55.286e (proposed)
House Bill 5883 would amend the Estates and Protected Individuals Code to allow for the
electronic signing and witnessing of the following documents:
• A will (section 1108).
• A disclaimer (section 2903).
• A funeral representative designation (section 1104).
• A parental appointment of a guardian of a minor (section 5202).
• An appointment of a guardian of a legally incapacitated individual (section 5203).
• A durable power of attorney (section 5501).
• A patient advocate designation (section 1106).
2
Federal law defines a government-sponsored enterprise as a corporate entity created by a law of the United States
that has a federal charter authorized by law; is privately owned; is under the direction of a board of directors, a majority
of which is elected by private owners or shareholders; is a financial institution with the power to make loans or raise
funds by borrowing; does not exercise powers reserved to the government; does not have the power to commit the
government financially; and has employees whose salaries and expenses are paid by the enterprise and are not federal
employees (2 U.S.C. 622).
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 These provisions originally expired on June 30, 2021, under the sunset clause in 2020 PA 338.
The bill would reinstate the provisions and allow them to apply going forward from the
effective date of the bill.
MCL 700.1202
BACKGROUND:
The notarization process is designed to prevent fraud or forgery on important business, public,
and legal documents by having a third-party (a notary public, or simply “notary”) present to
serve as an unbiased and impartial witness to the signing of these documents. A notary’s most
common function is to attest to the authenticity of the signature on a document through
verification of the signer’s identity. Michigan notaries public are required by law to
authenticate notarial acts by affixing their stamp or seal on documents they notarize.
While notarial acts traditionally involved exclusively paper documents, changes to various
state and federal laws in the early 2000s for the first time authorized notaries to use electronic
signatures. The National E-Notarization Commission was formed in response to these changes
to develop technology neutral standards for the secure implementation of “e-notarization,” and
in 2006, these standards were endorsed by the National Association of Secretaries of State
(NASS). 3 Among the standards were requirements that a notary’s electronic signature and seal
be independently verifiable, and that a tamper-evident certificate be attached to notarized
documents to deter fraud and misuse. 4
Despite allowing for the use of digital signatures and seals by notaries public, many early state
e-notarization laws still required that the document signer appear in person before the notary
at the time of notarization. This practice shifted after 2011, when Virginia became the first state
to fully authorize remote e-notarization, allowing document signers to satisfy the physical
appearance requirement for notarial acts remotely via the use of audio and visual technology
(e.g., webcams, video conferencing software). 5 As more states followed, NASS adopted
revised national standards that incorporated remote e-notarization guidelines in 2018.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic also had a dramatic impact on e-notarization
authorizations across the states. Business groups across the country urged state governments
to adjust limitations on remote notary work so that commerce could resume, and some states
attempted to reduce person-to-person contact by expanding access to remote notarization
services. For example, beginning September 1, 2020, Governor Whitmer issued a series of
executive orders extending the suspension of some in-person notarization requirements as a
direct response to the pandemic aimed at preventing transmission of the respiratory disease.6
At the beginning of 2020, only 16 states permitted remote e-notarization; 7 currently, 47 states
3
https://www.nass.org/initiatives/remote-electronic-notarization
4
https://www.sosnc.gov/documents/forms/notary/NASS_National_Electronic_Notary.pdf
5
Va. Code Ann. § 47.1 et seq. (2011), https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?111+ful+SB827ER+pdf.
6
Executive Orders 2020-41, 2020-74, 2020-131, 2020-158, 2020-173, and 2020-187
(https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/state-orders-and-directives/).
7
https://afsaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/AFSA-E-Notary-RON-White-Paper-August-2022.pdf
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 (including Michigan) and the District of Columbia have laws on the books allowing for at least
some form of remote e-notarization. 8
As of August 2023, the Michigan Department of State has approved 21 vendors for remote e-
notarization, and four vendors for non-remote e-notarization. 9 Several bills have also been
introduced in Congress to authorize notaries nationwide to perform e-notarization (remote or
otherwise), as well as require courts and states to recognize notarizations that are performed
by a notary public commissioned in any state. 10
FISCAL IMPACT:
House Bills 5882 and 5883 would not have a fiscal impact on the state or on local units of
government. The Department of Technology, Management, and Budget would be able to
incorporate the additional requirements of the bills with its existing review and approval
process of electronic notary systems and support them with ongoing appropriations.
POSITIONS:
A representative of the State Bar of Michigan Elder Law and Disability Rights Section testified
in support of the bills. (12-4-24)
The following entities indicated support for the bills (12-4-24):
• State Bar of Michigan Probate Section
• Michigan Bankers
The Michigan Land Title Association indicated opposition to the bills. (12-4-24)
Legislative Analyst: Aaron A. Meek
Fiscal Analyst: Michael Cnossen
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their
deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
8
https://www.nass.org/initiatives/remote-electronic-notarization
9
https://www.michigan.gov/-
/media/Project/Websites/sos/19delrio/List_of_Vendors.pdf?rev=78226875aab941608528776135f3dc51
10
The most recent of these federal bills are S.1212 (introduced in the Senate on April 19, 2023) and H.R.1059
(introduced in the House of Representatives on February 27, 2023). Both are reintroductions of similar bills from the
117th Congress, namely S.1625 and H.R.3962, which were introduced in 2021.
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Statutes affected:
House Introduced Bill: 55.263, 55.286
As Passed by the House: 55.263, 55.286