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Florida had previously authorized the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to develop a mobile driver’s license and identification card and it had done so. House Bill 1313 now requires the implementation of these electronic credentials. The technology behind these mobile IDs is robust. In other states with similar implementations, the individual must download an app issued by the vendor contracting with the Department from the Apple App Store or from the Google Play Store that resides on their phone.

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When Florida enacted its online notarization statute in 2019, it also enacted provisions related to the witnessing of electronic records, such as the witnessing of a will, for which a Notary may be involved. The effect of House Bill 483 is to clarify that online notarization procedures still apply in circumstances where an electronic document requires witnesses but not notarization. Further, the bill makes an online Notary’s supervision of an electronic record’s witnessing is a notarial act.

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From time to time state legislatures go back into their state codes to make updates and to correct typographical errors that were not discovered during the process of enacting legislation. Such is the case with Senate Bill 596. The changes made to three sections appearing in the Notary statutes of Florida Statutes Chapter 117 do not affect the substance of these sections.

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House Bill 409 is a massive new law that modifies Florida’s existing Notary statutes and adds new provisions for online notarization. One notable change to the Notary statutes is the new requirement that a certificate of acknowledgment or jurat specify whether the principal appeared physically before the Notary or by means of audio-video communication. But most of the bill deals with the requirements for registration as an online Notary, standards for performing online notarial acts, witnessing certain types of documents, keeping an electronic journal of online notarial acts, and creating and preserving a recording of the audio-video online notarial act.

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In Florida, the statute prescribes the specific forms of written identification that a Notary may accept from a signer to verify the signer’s identity. HB 401 expands the list of approved IDs to include a veterans health ID issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. According to the bill analysis for HB 401, a veterans health ID card is used for identification and check-in at VA appointments. The card contains a photo, a member identification number, a plan identification number, the branch of service, and any special awards. For increased security, a veteran must show one form of primary identification and one form of secondary identification when requesting a VHIC.

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Seeking to standardize how Florida refers to the process of voting absentee, Senate Bill 112 makes a global change throughout the Florida Statutes to replace the term “absentee” with vote-by-mail.” Section 117.05(2)(b), prohibiting Notaries from charging a fee to notarizing an absentee ballot, is one of many places where the new term is applied. There is no policy change affecting Notaries under SB 112. Notaries may not charge a fee for notarizing a “vote-by-mail” ballot just as they cannot notarize an absentee ballot under current law.

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In Florida, certain correctional officers are authorized to administer oaths in the performance of their duties. For example, when taking the report in a criminal investigation or traffic accident, an officer will need to have his or her signature notarized under oath, or administer an oath to an affiant during the investigation or accident. Under current law, these oaths must be administered in person. SB 526 now will allow the oaths to be administered remotely. Any electronic means utilized in administering an oath must comply with criminal justice information systems security measures.

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Prior to January 1, 1992, Florida Notaries were allowed to use an embosser as the official seal. However, consistent with the move toward requiring Notaries to use a Notary seal that is photographically reproducible, Florida enacted a law requiring Notaries to use a rubber stamp inking seal. The law contained a grandfather clause that allowed Notaries whose commissions extended beyond January 1, 1992 to continue to use an embosser until such time that they were reappointed. Thus, effective January 1, 1996, all Florida Notaries had transitioned to using a rubber stamp seal. Senate Bill 934, a bill correcting many sections throughout the Florida Statutes, removed this long obsolete provision from the Florida Statutes 117.05(3)(b).

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