Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Revises law concerning notaries and notarial acts; authorizes electronic signatures.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning notaries, amending and supplementing various parts of the statutory law.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1979, c.460 (C.52:7-10) is amended to read as follows:
1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the ["Notaries Public Act of 1979."] New Jersey Law on Notarial Acts.
(cf: P.L.1979, c.460, s.1)
2. (New section) Definitions.
As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
a. Acknowledgment means a declaration by an individual before a notarial officer that the individual has signed a record for the purpose stated in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative capacity, that the individual signed the record with proper authority and signed it as the act of the individual or entity identified in the record.
b. Electronic means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
c. Electronic signature means an electronic symbol, sound, or process attached to, or logically associated with, a record and executed or adopted by an individual with the intent to sign the record.
d. In a representative capacity means acting as:
(1) An authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative for a person other than an individual;
(2) A public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity stated in a record;
(3) An agent or attorney-in-fact for a principal; or
(4) An authorized representative of another in any other capacity.
e. Notarial act means an act, whether performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that a notarial officer may perform under the laws of New Jersey. The term includes:
(1) taking an acknowledgment,
(2) administering an oath or affirmation,
(3) taking a verification on oath or affirmation,
(4) witnessing or attesting a signature,
(5) certifying or attesting
a copy or deposition, and
(6) noting a protest of a negotiable instrument.
f. Notarial officer means a notary public or other individual authorized by law to perform a notarial act.
g. Notary public means an individual commissioned by the State Treasurer to perform a notarial act.
h. Official stamp means a physical image affixed to or embossed on a tangible record or an electronic image attached to, or logically associated with, an electronic record.
i. Person has the meaning ascribed to it in R.S.1:1-2.
j. Record means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
k. Sign means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
(1) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(2) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process.
l. Signature means a tangible symbol or an electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record.
m. Stamping device means:
(1) A physical device capable of affixing to or embossing on a tangible record an official stamp; or
(2) An electronic device or process capable of attaching to or logically associating with an electronic record an official stamp.
n. State means the State of New Jersey; other state or another state &