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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.4901 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:20020313 Primary Sponsor:Hinson All Sponsors:Hinson Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\swb\5166dw02.doc Residing Body:House Current Committee:Ways and Means Committee 30 HWM Subject:Notaries public, to maintain a journal of all notarial acts performed; fees for services increased and expanded History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 20020313 Introduced, read first time, 30 HWM referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 26-1-65, SO AS TO REQUIRE A NOTARY PUBLIC TO MAINTAIN A SEQUENTIAL JOURNAL OF ALL NOTARIAL ACTS PERFORMED AND SPECIFY WHAT INFORMATION MUST BE RECORDED; TO AMEND SECTION 8-21-140 RELATING TO FEES OF A NOTARY PUBLIC, SO AS TO INCREASE AND EXPAND THE FEES; AND TO AMEND SECTION 26-3-40 RELATING TO WHAT A PERSON MUST CERTIFY WHEN TAKING AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT, SO AS TO REQUIRE "PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE" OR "SATISFACTORY EVIDENCE OF THE IDENTITY OF AN INDIVIDUAL" AND TO DEFINE THESE TERMS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 26-1-65. (A) A notary public shall maintain in a sequential journal a record of all notarial acts performed. The journal must be kept under the exclusive control of the notary.
(B) For every notarial act, the notary shall record in the journal:
(1) the date and time of the notarial act;
(2) the type of notarial act, such as acknowledgment or jurat;
(3) the type, title, or description and the date of every document notarized;
(4) the name, address, signature, and, in the case of real property and immigration documents, the right thumbprint of each person whose signature is notarized;
(5) a statement as to how the signer's identity was confirmed including, if applicable, the type of identification document, with its serial number and date of issuance or expiration, or the name and signature of any identifying witness, with the type of any document used to identify the witness, along with its serial number and date of issuance or expiration; and
(6) the fee charged for the notarial act.
(C) In lieu of a sequential journal of notarial acts, a notary public who is an attorney at law admitted to practice in this State may maintain a record of notarial acts in the form of office files regularly maintained for the attorney's law practice."
SECTION 2. Section 8-21-140 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 8-21-140. The fees of notaries public shall be are as follows:
(1) For taking a deposition and swearing witnesses, twenty-five cents per one dollar for each copy sheet;
(2) For a duplicate of a deposition, protest and certificate, ten fifty cents per for each copy sheet of one hundred words;
(3) For each attendance upon any person for proving a matter or thing and certifying the same, fifty cents five dollars;
(4) For every notarial certificate, with seal, fifty cents five dollars;
(5) For administering an oath for an affidavit, twenty-five cents two dollars;
(6) For taking a renunciation of dower or inheritance, one dollar; and
(7) For every protest, fifty cents five dollars, together with the cost of postage for transmitting notice thereof of it. ; and
(8) No notary public may receive compensation or charge any fee to a United States military veteran or to a firefighter, police officer, or sheriff's deputy for notarization of an application or a claim for a pension, allotment, allowance, compensation, insurance policy, or any other benefit resulting from their public service."
SECTION 3. Section 26-3-40 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 26-3-40. (A) For purposes of this section:
(1) 'Personal knowledge' means familiarity with an individual resulting from interactions with that individual over a period of time sufficient to ensure beyond a reasonable doubt that the individual has the identity claimed.
(2) 'Satisfactory evidence of the identity of an individual' means either:
(a) At least one current document issued by a federal or state government agency bearing the photographic image of the individual's face and signature and a physical description of the individual, though a properly stamped passport without a physical description is acceptable; or
(b) the oath or affirmation of one credible person unaffected by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary and who personally knows the individual, or of two credible persons unaffected by the document or transaction who each personally knows the individual and shows to the notary documentary identification as described in item (1).
(B) The person taking an acknowledgment shall certify that:
(1) The person acknowledging appeared before him and acknowledged he executed the instrument; and
(2) The person acknowledging was known personally to the person taking the acknowledgment or that the person taking the acknowledgment had satisfactory evidence that the person acknowledging was the person described in and who executed the instrument."
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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