I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1777
To authorize notaries public to perform, and to establish minimum standards
for, electronic notarizations and remote notarizations that occur in or
affect interstate commerce, to require any Federal court to recognize
notarizations performed by a notarial officer of any State, to require
any State to recognize notarizations performed by a notarial officer
of any other State when the notarization was performed under or relates
to a public Act, record, or judicial proceeding of the notarial officer’s
State or when the notarization occurs in or affects interstate commerce,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH3, 2025
Mr. B
ENTZ(for himself, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, and Ms. FEDORCHAK)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize notaries public to perform, and to establish
minimum standards for, electronic notarizations and re-
mote notarizations that occur in or affect interstate com-
merce, to require any Federal court to recognize
notarizations performed by a notarial officer of any
State, to require any State to recognize notarizations
performed by a notarial officer of any other State when
the notarization was performed under or relates to a
public Act, record, or judicial proceeding of the notarial
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officer’s State or when the notarization occurs in or
affects interstate commerce, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing and Enabling 4
Commerce Using Remote and Electronic Notarization Act 5
of 2025’’ or the ‘‘SECURE Notarization Act of 2025’’. 6
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7
In this Act: 8
(1) C
OMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY .—The term 9
‘‘communication technology’’, with respect to a nota-10
rization, means an electronic device or process that 11
allows the notary public performing the notarization, 12
a remotely located individual, and (if applicable) a 13
credible witness to communicate with each other si-14
multaneously by sight and sound during the notari-15
zation. 16
(2) E
LECTRONIC; ELECTRONIC RECORD ; ELEC-17
TRONIC SIGNATURE ; INFORMATION; PERSON; 18
RECORD.—The terms ‘‘electronic’’, ‘‘electronic 19
record’’, ‘‘electronic signature’’, ‘‘information’’, ‘‘per-20
son’’, and ‘‘record’’ have the meanings given those 21
terms in section 106 of the Electronic Signatures in 22
Global and National Commerce Act (15 U.S.C. 23
7006). 24
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(3) LAW.—The term ‘‘law’’ includes any stat-1
ute, regulation, rule, or rule of law. 2
(4) N
OTARIAL OFFICER.—The term ‘‘notarial 3
officer’’ means— 4
(A) a notary public; or 5
(B) any other individual authorized to per-6
form a notarization under the laws of a State 7
without a commission or appointment as a no-8
tary public. 9
(5) N
OTARIAL OFFICER’S STATE; NOTARY PUB-10
LIC’S STATE.—The term ‘‘notarial officer’s State’’ or 11
‘‘notary public’s State’’ means the State in which a 12
notarial officer, or a notary public, as applicable, is 13
authorized to perform a notarization. 14
(6) N
OTARIZATION.—The term ‘‘notariza-15
tion’’— 16
(A) means any act that a notarial officer 17
may perform under— 18
(i) Federal law, including this Act; or 19
(ii) the laws of the notarial officer’s 20
State; and 21
(B) includes any act described in subpara-22
graph (A) and performed by a notarial officer— 23
(i) with respect to— 24
(I) a tangible record; or 25
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(II) an electronic record; and 1
(ii) for— 2
(I) an individual in the physical 3
presence of the notarial officer; or 4
(II) a remotely located individual. 5
(7) N
OTARY PUBLIC.—The term ‘‘notary pub-6
lic’’ means an individual commissioned or appointed 7
as a notary public to perform a notarization under 8
the laws of a State. 9
(8) P
ERSONAL KNOWLEDGE .—The term ‘‘per-10
sonal knowledge’’, with respect to the identity of an 11
individual, means knowledge of the identity of the 12
individual through dealings sufficient to provide rea-13
sonable certainty that the individual has the identity 14
claimed. 15
(9) R
EMOTELY LOCATED INDIVIDUAL .—The 16
term ‘‘remotely located individual’’, with respect to 17
a notarization, means an individual who is not in the 18
physical presence of the notarial officer performing 19
the notarization. 20
(10) R
EQUIREMENT.—The term ‘‘requirement’’ 21
includes a duty, a standard of care, and a prohibi-22
tion. 23
(11) S
IGNATURE.—The term ‘‘signature’’ 24
means— 25
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(A) an electronic signature; or 1
(B) a tangible symbol executed or adopted 2
by a person and evidencing the present intent 3
to authenticate or adopt a record. 4
(12) S
IMULTANEOUSLY.—The term ‘‘simulta-5
neously’’, with respect to a communication between 6
parties— 7
(A) means that each party communicates 8
substantially simultaneously and without unrea-9
sonable interruption or disconnection; and 10
(B) includes any reasonably short delay 11
that is inherent in, or common with respect to, 12
the method used for the communication. 13
(13) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’— 14
(A) means— 15
(i) any State of the United States; 16
(ii) the District of Columbia; 17
(iii) the Commonwealth of Puerto 18
Rico; 19
(iv) any territory or possession of the 20
United States; and 21
(v) any federally recognized Indian 22
Tribe; and 23
(B) includes any executive, legislative, or 24
judicial agency, court, department, board, of-25
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fice, clerk, recorder, register, registrar, commis-1
sion, authority, institution, instrumentality, 2
county, municipality, or other political subdivi-3
sion of an entity described in any of clauses (i) 4
through (v) of subparagraph (A). 5
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO PERFORM AND MINIMUM 6
STANDARDS FOR ELECTRONIC NOTARIZA-7
TION. 8
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—Unless prohibited under sec-9
tion 10, and subject to subsection (b), a notary public may 10
perform a notarization that occurs in or affects interstate 11
commerce with respect to an electronic record. 12
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS OF ELECTRONICNOTARIZA-13
TION.—If a notary public performs a notarization under 14
subsection (a), the following requirements shall apply with 15
respect to the notarization: 16
(1) The electronic signature of the notary pub-17
lic, and all other information required to be included 18
under other applicable law, shall be attached to or 19
logically associated with the electronic record. 20
(2) The electronic signature and other informa-21
tion described in paragraph (1) shall be bound to 22
the electronic record in a manner that renders any 23
subsequent change or modification to the electronic 24
record evident. 25
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SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION TO PERFORM AND MINIMUM 1
STANDARDS FOR REMOTE NOTARIZATION. 2
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—Unless prohibited under sec-3
tion 10, and subject to subsection (b), a notary public may 4
perform a notarization that occurs in or affects interstate 5
commerce for a remotely located individual. 6
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS OF REMOTENOTARIZATION.—If 7
a notary public performs a notarization under subsection 8
(a), the following requirements shall apply with respect to 9
the notarization: 10
(1) The remotely located individual shall appear 11
personally before the notary public at the time of the 12
notarization by using communication technology. 13
(2) The notary public shall— 14
(A) reasonably identify the remotely lo-15
cated individual— 16
(i) through personal knowledge of the 17
identity of the remotely located individual; 18
or 19
(ii) by obtaining satisfactory evidence 20
of the identity of the remotely located indi-21
vidual by— 22
(I) using not fewer than 2 dis-23
tinct types of processes or services 24
through which a third person provides 25
a means to verify the identity of the 26
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remotely located individual through a 1
review of public or private data 2
sources; or 3
(II) oath or affirmation of a 4
credible witness who— 5
(aa)(AA) is in the physical 6
presence of the notary public or 7
the remotely located individual; 8
or 9
(BB) appears personally be-10
fore the notary public and the re-11
motely located individual by 12
using communication technology; 13
(bb) has personal knowledge 14
of the identity of the remotely lo-15
cated individual; and 16
(cc) has been identified by 17
the notary public in the same 18
manner as specified for identi-19
fication of a remotely located in-20
dividual under clause (i) or sub-21
clause (I) of this clause; 22
(B) either directly or through an agent— 23
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(i) create an audio and visual record-1
ing of the performance of the notarization; 2
and 3
(ii) notwithstanding any resignation 4
from, or revocation, suspension, or termi-5
nation of, the notary public’s commission 6
or appointment, retain the recording cre-7
ated under clause (i) as a notarial 8
record— 9
(I) for a period of not less 10
than— 11
(aa) if an applicable law of 12
the notary public’s State specifies 13
a period of retention, the greater 14
of— 15
(AA) that specified pe-16
riod; or 17
(BB) 5 years after the 18
date on which the recording 19
is created; or 20
(bb) if no applicable law of 21
the notary public’s State specifies 22
a period of retention, 10 years 23
after the date on which the re-24
cording is created; and 25
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(II) if any applicable law of the 1
notary public’s State governs the con-2
tent, manner or place of retention, se-3
curity, use, effect, or disclosure of the 4
recording or any information con-5
tained in the recording, in accordance 6
with that law; and 7
(C) if the notarization is performed with 8
respect to a tangible or electronic record, take 9
reasonable steps to confirm that the record be-10
fore the notary public is the same record with 11
respect to which the remotely located individual 12
made a statement or on which the individual ex-13
ecuted a signature. 14
(3) If a guardian, conservator, executor, per-15
sonal representative, administrator, or similar fidu-16
ciary or successor is appointed for or on behalf of 17
a notary public or a deceased notary public under 18
applicable law, that person shall retain the recording 19
under paragraph (2)(B)(ii), unless— 20
(A) another person is obligated to retain 21
the recording under applicable law of the notary 22
public’s State; or 23
(B)(i) under applicable law of the notary 24
public’s State, that person may transmit the re-25
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cording to an office, archive, or repository ap-1
proved or designated by the State; and 2
(ii) that person transmits the recording to 3
the office, archive, or repository described in 4
clause (i) in accordance with applicable law of 5
the notary public’s State. 6
(4) If the remotely located individual is phys-7
ically located outside the geographic boundaries of a 8
State, or is otherwise physically located in a location 9
that is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United 10
States, at the time of the notarization— 11
(A) the record shall— 12
(i) be intended for filing with, or re-13
late to a matter before, a court, govern-14
mental entity, public official, or other enti-15
ty that is subject to the jurisdiction of the 16
United States; or 17
(ii) involve property located in the ter-18
ritorial jurisdiction of the United States or 19
a transaction substantially connected to 20
the United States; and 21
(B) the act of making the statement or 22
signing the record may not be prohibited by a 23
law of the jurisdiction in which the individual is 24
physically located. 25
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(c) PERSONALAPPEARANCESATISFIED.—If a State 1
or Federal law requires an individual to appear personally 2
before or be in the physical presence of a notary public 3
at the time of a notarization, that requirement shall be 4
considered to be satisfied if— 5
(1) the individual— 6
(A) is a remotely located individual; and 7
(B) appears personally before the notary 8
public at the time of the notarization by using 9
communication technology; and 10
(2)(A) the notarization was performed under or 11
relates to a public act, record, or judicial proceeding 12
of the notary public’s State; or 13
(B) the notarization occurs in or affects inter-14
state commerce. 15
SEC. 5. RECOGNITION OF NOTARIZATIONS IN FEDERAL 16
COURT. 17
(a) R
ECOGNITION OFVALIDITY.—Each court of the 18
United States shall recognize as valid under the State or 19
Federal law applicable in a judicial proceeding before the 20
court any notarization performed by a notarial officer of 21
any State if the notarization is valid under the laws of 22
the notarial officer’s State or under this Act. 23
(b) L
EGALEFFECT OFRECOGNIZEDNOTARIZA-24
TION.—A notarization recognized under subsection (a) 25
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shall have the same effect under the State or Federal law 1
applicable in the applicable judicial proceeding as if that 2
notarization was validly performed— 3
(1)(A) by a notarial officer of the State, the law 4
of which is applicable in the proceeding; or 5
(B) under this Act or other Federal law; and 6
(2) without regard to whether the notarization 7
was performed— 8
(A) with respect to— 9
(i) a tangible record; or 10
(ii) an electronic record; or 11
(B) for— 12
(i) an individual in the physical pres-13
ence of the notarial officer; or 14
(ii) a remotely located individual. 15
(c) P
RESUMPTION OF GENUINENESS.—In a deter-16
mination of the validity of a notarization for the purposes 17
of subsection (a), the signature and title of an individual 18
performing the notarization shall be prima facie evidence 19
in any court of the United States that the signature of 20
the individual is genuine and that the individual holds the 21
designated title. 22
(d) C
ONCLUSIVEEVIDENCE OFAUTHORITY.—In a 23
determination of the validity of a notarization for the pur-24
poses of subsection (a), the signature and title of the fol-25
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lowing notarial officers of a State shall conclusively estab-1
lish the authority of the officer to perform the notariza-2
tion: 3
(1) A notary public of that State. 4
(2) A judge, clerk, or deputy clerk of a court 5
of that State. 6
SEC. 6. RECOGNITION BY STATE OF NOTARIZATIONS PER-7
FORMED UNDER AUTHORITY OF ANOTHER 8
STATE. 9
(a) R
ECOGNITION OFVALIDITY.—Each State shall 10
recognize as valid under the laws of that State any notari-11
zation performed by a notarial officer of any other State 12
if— 13
(1) the notarization is valid under the laws of 14
the notarial officer’s State or under this Act; and 15
(2)(A) the notarization was performed under or 16
relates to a public act, record, or judicial proceeding 17
of the notarial officer’s State; or 18
(B) the notarization occurs in or affects inter-19
state commerce. 20
(b) L
EGALEFFECT OFRECOGNIZEDNOTARIZA-21
TION.—A notarization recognized under subsection (a) 22
shall have the same effect under the laws of the recog-23
nizing State as if that notarization was validly performed 24
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by a notarial officer of the recognizing State, without re-1
gard to whether the notarization was performed— 2
(1) with respect to— 3
(A) a tangible record; or 4
(B) an electronic record; or 5
(2) for— 6
(A) an individual in the physical presence 7
of the notarial officer; or 8
(B) a remotely located individual. 9
(c) P
RESUMPTION OF GENUINENESS.—In a deter-10
mination of the validity of a notarization for the purposes 11
of subsection (a), the signature and title of an individual 12
performing a notarization shall be prima facie evidence in 13
any State court or judicial proceeding that the signature 14
is genuine and that the individual holds the designated 15
title. 16
(d) C
ONCLUSIVEEVIDENCE OFAUTHORITY.—In a 17
determination of the validity of a notarization for the pur-18
poses of subsection (a), the signature and title of the fol-19
lowing notarial officers of a State shall conclusively estab-20
lish the authority of the officer to perform the notariza-21
tion: 22
(1) A notary public of that State. 23
(2) A judge, clerk, or deputy clerk of a court 24
of that State. 25
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SEC. 7. ELECTRONIC AND REMOTE NOTARIZATION NOT RE-1
QUIRED. 2
Nothing in this Act may be construed to require a 3
notary public to perform a notarization— 4
(1) with respect to an electronic record; 5
(2) for a remotely located individual; or 6
(3) using a technology that the notary public 7
has not selected. 8
SEC. 8. VALIDITY OF NOTARIZATIONS; RIGHTS OF AG-9
GRIEVED PERSONS NOT AFFECTED; STATE 10
LAWS ON THE PRACTICE OF LAW NOT AF-11
FECTED. 12
(a) V
ALIDITYNOTAFFECTED.—The failure of a no-13
tary public to meet a requirement under section 3 or 4 14
in the performance of a notarization, or the failure of a 15
notarization to conform to a requirement under section 3 16
or 4, shall not invalidate or impair the validity or recogni-17
tion of the notarization. 18
(b) R
IGHTS OFAGGRIEVEDPERSONS.—The validity 19
and recognition of a notarization under this Act may not 20
be construed to prevent an aggrieved person from seeking 21
to invalidate a record or transaction that is the subject 22
of a notarization or from seeking other remedies based on 23
State or Federal law other than this Act for any reason 24
not specified in this Act, including on the basis— 25
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(1) that a person did not, with present intent 1
to authenticate or adopt a record, execute a signa-2
ture on the record; 3
(2) that an individual was incompetent, lacked 4
authority or capacity to authenticate or adopt a 5
record, or did not knowingly and voluntarily authen-6
ticate or adopt a record; or 7
(3) of fraud, forgery, mistake, misrepresenta-8
tion, impersonation, duress, undue influence, or 9
other invalidating cause. 10
(c) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 11
may be construed to affect a State law governing, author-12
izing, or prohibiting the practice of law. 13
SEC. 9. EXCEPTION TO PREEMPTION. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—A State law may modify, limit, or 15
supersede the provisions of section 3, or subsection (a) or 16
(b) of section 4, with respect to State law only if that State 17
law— 18
(1) either— 19
(A) constitutes an enactment or adoption 20
of the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, 21
as approved and recommended for enactment in 22
all the States by the National Conference of 23
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2018 24
or the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, 25
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as approved and recommended for enactment in 1
all the States by the National Conference of 2
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 3
2021, except that a modification to such Law 4
enacted or adopted by a State shall be pre-5
empted to the extent such modification— 6
(i) is inconsistent with a provision of 7
section 3 or subsection (a) or (b) of section 8
4, as applicable; or 9
(ii) would not be permitted under sub-10
paragraph (B); or 11
(B) specifies additional or alternative pro-12
cedures or requirements for the performance of 13
notarizations with respect to electronic records 14
or for remotely located individuals, if those ad-15
ditional or alternative procedures or require-16
ments— 17
(i) are consistent with section 3 and 18
subsections (a) and (b) of section 4; and 19
(ii) do not accord greater legal effect 20
to the implementation or application of a 21
specific technology or technical specifica-22
tion for performing those notarizations; 23
and 24
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(2) requires the retention of an audio and vis-1
ual recording of the performance of a notarization 2
for a remotely located individual for a period of not 3
less than 5 years after the recording is created. 4
(b) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in section 5 5
or 6 may be construed to preclude the recognition of a 6
notarization under applicable State law, regardless of 7
whether such State law is consistent with section 5 or 6. 8
SEC. 10. STANDARD OF CARE; SPECIAL NOTARIAL COMMIS-9
SIONS; FALSE ADVERTISING. 10
(a) S
TATESTANDARDS OF CARE; AUTHORITY OF 11
S
TATEREGULATORYOFFICIALS.—Nothing in this Act 12
may be construed to prevent a State, or a notarial regu-13
latory official of a State, from— 14
(1) adopting a requirement in this Act as a 15
duty or standard of care under the laws of that 16
State or sanctioning a notary public for breach of 17
such a duty or standard of care; 18
(2) establishing requirements and qualifications 19
for, or denying, refusing to renew, revoking, sus-20
pending, or imposing a condition on, a commission 21
or appointment as a notary public; 22
(3) creating or designating a class or type of 23
commission or appointment, or requiring an endorse-24
ment or other authorization to be received by a no-25
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tary public, as a condition on the authority to per-1
form notarizations with respect to electronic records 2
or for remotely located individuals; or 3
(4) prohibiting a notary public from performing 4
a notarization under section 3 or 4 as a sanction for 5
a breach of duty or standard of care or for official 6
misconduct. 7
(b) S
PECIALCOMMISSIONS OR AUTHORIZATIONS 8
C
REATED BY ASTATE; SANCTION FORBREACH OROFFI-9
CIALMISCONDUCT; FALSEADVERTISING.—A notary pub-10
lic may not perform a notarization under section 3 or 4 11
if any of the following applies: 12
(1) The notary public’s State has enacted a law 13
that creates or designates a class or type of commis-14
sion or appointment, or requires an endorsement or 15
other authorization to be received by a notary public, 16
as a condition on the authority to perform 17
notarizations with respect to electronic records or for 18
remotely located individuals, and— 19
(A) the commission or appointment of the 20
notary public is not of that class or type; or 21
(B) the notary public has not received the 22
endorsement or other authorization. 23
(2) The notarial regulatory official of the no-24
tary public’s State has prohibited the notary public 25
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from performing the notarization as a sanction for 1
a breach of duty or standard of care or for official 2
misconduct. 3
(3)(A) The notary public has engaged in false 4
or deceptive advertising. 5
(B) For the purposes of subparagraph (A), a 6
notary public shall be considered to have engaged in 7
false or deceptive advertising if the notary public 8
(unless the notary public is an attorney licensed to 9
practice law in a State)— 10
(i) uses the term ‘‘notario’’ or ‘‘notario 11
publico’’; or 12
(ii) states or represents in a record offer-13
ing commercial notarial services that the notary 14
public is authorized to— 15
(I) assist in drafting legal records, 16
give legal advice, or otherwise practice law; 17
(II) act as an immigration consultant 18
or an expert on matters pertaining to im-19
migration; 20
(III) represent a person in a judicial 21
or administrative proceeding relating to 22
immigration to the United States, United 23
States citizenship, or related matters; or 24
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•HR 1777 IH
(IV) receive compensation for per-1
forming any activity described in this sub-2
paragraph. 3
(C) For the purposes of a notarization per-4
formed by a notary public under section 4 for a re-5
motely located individual, if a record executed by the 6
remotely located individual attests that the notary 7
public disclosed to the individual the prohibitions 8
under this paragraph, and that the notary public did 9
not make any statement or representation in viola-10
tion of this paragraph, that record shall conclusively 11
establish compliance by the notary public with the 12
requirements of this paragraph, as of the date on 13
which the individual executes that record. 14
SEC. 11. SEVERABILITY. 15
If any provision of this Act or the application of such 16
provision to any person or circumstance is held to be in-17
valid or unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and 18
the application of the provisions thereof to other persons 19
or circumstances shall not be affected by that holding. 20
Æ
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