Now that the new notary public law (RULONA) is effective (as of October 26, 2017), are you compliant with all of the law's mandates? Here are three requirements of the new law you should be adhering to now.

Journal

Do you already have a notary journal with the extra entry spaces to record the information required by the law? If you do not, you can visit PAN's Web site at www.notary.org to order a journal, or you can re-format your current register to conform to the new law, if your commission is in effect on October 26, 2017. A re-formatted register may only be used until your notary commission expires. Then you must purchase a RULONA-complaint journal.

PAN has provided a tutorial in the Member Portal that shows you how to re-format your current register.

Each entry must contain:

• The date and time of the notary act. It is always the date and time in which your customer stands before you in person.
• A description of the record, if any, and the type of notary act.
• Notary fee, if charged.
• Clerical and administrative fees, if charged.
• Customer information including name and city and state where the customer lives, and
• Statement regarding the method of identification and any identification crediential presented, including date of issue and expiration date.

RULONA Notary Acts

The new notary public law (RULONA) has added a new notary act and changed familiar acts, including acknowledgments.

Witnessing or attesting a signature

The new notary public law authorizes you to witness or attest a customer's signature, should a customer request this service.

The signer of the document is merely signing the document, not swearing or affirming that the contents of the document are true.

The law stipulates that a document conaining a signature may not be signed prior to the witnessing or attesting of the signature. You must compare the signature on the document to the signature on the customer's identification, if there is a signature on the presented ID.

The document must be signed on the same date you affix your official notary stamp and signature to the document.

Acknowledgments

Notary wording for acknowledgments have been simplified in the new notary public law.

For an individual acknowledgment, the notary wording is:

This record was acknowledged before me on (date) by (name(s) of individual(s)).

The wording for a representative capacity acknowledgment is:

This record was acknowledged before me on (date) by (name(s) of individual(s)) as (type of authority such as officer or trustee) who represent that (he, she, they) are authorized to act on behalf of (name of party on behalf of whom record was executed).

An example of the notary wording for an acknowledgment by attorney-at-law is:

This record was acknowledged before me on (date) by (name of attorney) Supreme Court Number _______ as a member of the bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court certified that he/she was personally present when (name(s) of individual(s)) executed the record and that (name(s)) of individual(s)) executed the record for the purposes contained therein.

Verification on oath or affirmation

The notary act of taking a verification on oath or affirmation is a declaration made by an individual that a statement in the document he or she is signing, is true. This act includes an affidavit.

The notary wording for a verification on oath or affirmation is:

Signed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on (date) by (name(s) of individual(s) making the statement).

Acceptable identification

There are two types of satisfactory evidence defined in the ntoary notary public law - acceptable identification and credible witness. We featured an article on credibl witness in the September-October 2017 issue of Notary Notes so now we'll focus on acceptable identification.

Acceptable identification is a form of government identification that is current and contains a photograph or signature and is satisfactory to you, the notary.

Acceptable identification includes:

• Passport or passport card issued by the U.S. Department of State or a foreign government, which is current and unexpired and uses letters, characters and a language that you can read and understand.
• Driver's license or non-driver identification card issued by a U.S. state or territory, and a state or territory of Canada or Mexico (which uses letters, characters and a language that can be read and understood by you) and is current and unexpired.
• Identification card issued by any branch of the U.S. armed forces.
• Inmate identification card issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for an inmate who is currently in the custody of the Department.
• Identification card issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
• Social Security card.
• Medicare card, and a
• Pennsylvania state and state-related university identification card.

If the identification card presented to you does not prove your customer's identity to your satisfaction, you must ask for another form of ID that meets the requirements of the law. If you are unable to identify your customer, you must refuse to notarize.

For more information on the new notary law, visit PAN's Web site at www.notary.org/RULONA.