(a) A notary public authorized to perform online notarization who resigns, is disqualified or removed from office, or allows the notary public’s registration to perform online notarization to expire without obtaining a reappointment, within 30 days, pursuant to Section 8209, shall take all necessary measures to disable the electronic affixation of the notary public’s electronic signature or seal by the notary public or another person including, but not limited to, notifying the online notarization platform providing the online notarization system utilized by the notary public that their electronic signature and seal should be disabled, as well as adhering to any other requirements set forth in regulations adopted by the Secretary of State.

(b) An online notarization platform notified by a notary public pursuant to subdivision (a) shall disable, destroy, or otherwise prevent the use of the notary public’s electronic signature and electronic seal.

Terms Used In California Government Code 8231.11

  • Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See California Government Code 8231.1
  • Electronic seal: means information within a notarized electronic record that corresponds to information in notary seals used on paper records and that, where applicable, conforms to the requirement of this article, including, but not limited to, subdivision (b) of Section 8231. See California Government Code 8231.1
  • Electronic signature: means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record. See California Government Code 8231.1
  • Online notarization platform: means an individual or entity that has an active registration with the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 8231. See California Government Code 8231.1
  • Online notarization system: means the computer hardware and software that enable a notary public to do both of the following:

    California Government Code 8231.1

  • Person: includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company. See California Government Code 17
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10

(Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 291, Sec. 8. (SB 696) Effective January 1, 2024.)

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