BILL NUMBER: S398
SPONSOR: MYRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to duties of notaries
with respect to instruments conveying residential real property
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the bill is to establish a clear set of notary duties in
an effort to prevent deed theft.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the Executive Law with the addition of section 137-b,
which outlines the duties of notaries concerning instruments conveying
residential real property. A notary public must complete and retain a
journal entry for each notarization performed where there is a convey-
ance of residential real property. Each entry shall include specific
information on the principal as provided in this section - location,
date, time, etc. The notary shall maintain such a journal for the dura-
tion of their time in office and five years thereafter. Notaries are
also required to perform a colloquy form with the principal in the writ-
ten form outlined in paragraph (f) of subdivision 2 of section 137-b of
the Executive Law. The notary public must maintain the colloquy form in
their records for the duration of their time in office and five years
thereafter. Finally, the Secretary of State is required to set forth a
mandatory program for educating notaries of such duties.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The current law does not adequately protect homeowners from deed theft.
The notary public is often the last line of defense before a homeowner
signs a deed. However, some fraudulent notaries will misrepresent to the
homeowner what they are signing, which results in an unintentional
conveyance of real property. This bill amends the current law to ensure
homeowners understand their actions before conveying their property and
that all steps in this process are thoroughly documented. Both the jour-
nal requirements and the colloquy form would reinforce to the signer the
seriousness of such a transaction, which will hopefully prompt them to
ask the necessary questions before taking any action. This type of
thorough record-keeping would also assist law enforcement in rooting out
bad industry actors.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S218 of 2023-24: Referred to Finance S9404 of 2022: Referred to Finance
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one-hundred-eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.