Interstate Recognition Of Notarizations Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

INTERSTATE RECOGNITION OF NOTARIZATIONS ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - July 10, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Representative Aderholt's bill eliminates unnecessary impediments in handling the everyday transactions of individuals and businesses. Many documents executed and notarized in one State, either by design or happenstance, find their way into neighboring or more distant States. A document should not be refused admission to support or defend a claim in court solely on the ground it was not notarized in the State where the Court sits. H.R. 1979 ensures this will not result.

A notarization, in and of itself, Mr. Speaker, neither validates a document nor speaks to the truthfulness or accuracy of its contents. The notarization serves a different function. It verifies that a document's signer is who he or she purports to be and has willingly signed or executed the document.

By executing the appropriate certificate, the notary public, as a disinterested party to the transaction, informs all other parties relying upon or using the document that it is the act of the person who signed it.

H.R. 1979 compels a court to accept the authenticity of the document, even though the notarization was performed in a State other than where the form is located. This reaffirms the importance of the notarial act.

Mr. Speaker, after hearing testimony on this subject before the Judiciary Committee during the 109th Congress, I have concluded that the refusal of one State to accept the validity of another State's notarized document in an intrastate legal proceeding is just plain provincial and insular.

Some of the examples were based on petty reasons. For example, one State requires a notary to affix an ink stamp to a document, an act that is not recognized in a sister State that may well require documents to be notarized with a raised, embossed seal.

Passing this bill will streamline interstate commercial and legal transactions consistent with the guarantees of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution. Mr. Speaker, I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the chief sponsor of the bill, the distinguished gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), for such time as he may consume.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COBLE. In closing, Mr. Speaker, this addresses a problem that has come across my path many times. Back home, Mr. Conyers, I don't know about you in Michigan, but in North Carolina, I hear this complaint frequently. A document properly notarized in one State, and then as I said, it must be by happenstance, crosses a State line and goes to another State, and then, of course, denial rears her ugly head, and all sorts of confusion results.

So this addresses a problem that needs to be fixed, and I think this legislation does it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source