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Remote Notary Update – End of Year Implementation

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We have indications from the Secretary of State’s office that the current timeline for remote notary regulations means possible implementation around the mid-November or mid-December Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) meetings, see below timeline:

  • April 15, 2022 – Secretary of State’s office files First Notice of proposed regulations, which opened a 45 day period for public comment to the Secretary of State’s office (see page 5 of the Flinn Report for a summary of the proposed rules and see page 5874 of the Illinois Register for the full filing);
  • May 30, 2022 – Illinois Land Title Association submits public comment to Secretary of State, click here;
  • July 7, 2022 – Illinois Land Title Association submits public comment addendum to Secretary of State, click here;
  • First Notice Public Comment Period – over 150 public comments submitted to the Secretary of State from various interest groups;
  • October 14 or 21, 2022 – anticipated Second Notice filing by the Secretary of State’s office, which opens a period for review and public comment directly to JCAR (note: changes are expected to the First Notice proposed rules; once Second Notice is filed, no further changes may be made to a proposed rulemaking unless agreed to by both JCAR and the Secretary of State’s office);
  • November 15 or December 13, 2022 – anticipated JCAR meeting for final action (note: if JCAR has no objection, the Secretary of State’s office may adopt the rulemaking with any Second Notice changes, which is filed as a Notice of Adopted Rules/Amendments in a subsequent, weekly Illinois Register publication.

***Remote Notary Laws Already in Effect – Notary Commissions***

While many aspects of the remote notary legislation signed into law last summer as Public Act 102-160 are not yet in effect due to ongoing rulemaking (note: this includes new journal requirements not yet in effect), changes to the notary certification process are in effect as of July 1, 2022.

More specifically, the appointment of the applicant as a notary public no longer needs recorded with a county clerk pursuant to the repealed Section 2-106 by Public Act 102-160. The Secretary of State’s office confirmed:

  • the last of the Commission Certificates to be processed by counties (June 30, 2022 or earlier) were mailed out by the Secretary of State’s office to counties the first week of July 2022; and
  • Commission Certificates issued (i.e. “In Testimony” date July 1st or later) are being mailed directly to the Notaries Public.

***Other Laws & Regulations of Interest***

At the end of July 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SECURE Notarization Act for immediate nationwide use of remote online notarization, which provides for national standards and legal certainty of interstate transactions. As an American Land Title Association initiative, you can click here to join the Title Action Network advocacy in favor of the U.S. Senate moving forward with the legislation.

Also, click here for ILTA’s May 2022 news post that includes additional state and federal regulations of interest.