| Committee of Jurisdiction: | Government, Military and Veterans Affairs |
| Occupation Regulated: | Notary Public |
| Occupational Board: | Secretary of State |
| Contact: | David Wilson or Colleen Byelick |
| Purpose: | A notary public is authorized to administer oaths and affirmations, to take depositions, acknowledgments, and proofs of execution of deeds, mortgages, powers of attorney, and other instruments in writing. Given the significant duties performed by a notary public, statute provides for the Secretary of State to appoint and commission the number of persons to the office of notary public as he or she deems necessary. The law does not create a license, as a notary public is a public officer. |
| Regulated Professionals: | 27,974 |
| Year Created: | 1869 |
| Year Active: | 1869 |
| Sunset Date: | None |
| Government Certificates Issued: | 35652 |
| Issued Certificate Descriptions: | The Secretary of State’s Office has issued 35,652 notary commissions, including renewals and electronic and online notary registrations over the last five fiscal years (fiscal years 2018 to 2022). The Secretary of State’s Office has also issued 19,942 apostilles or authentications of notarized documents during this same time. |
| Government Certificates Revoked: | 5 |
| Revoked Certificate Descriptions: | There were two (2) notaries who had their commissions temporarily revoked. Additionally, there were three (3) stipulation and consent orders where the notary agreed to voluntarily surrender their commission in lieu of a formal revocation proceeding. |
| Government Certificates Denied: | 1 |
| Denied Certificate Descriptions: | We have a record of one (1) applicant who was eligible for a commission but denied due to an ongoing investigation. Applications for a notary public commission may be returned to the applicant for a variety of reasons. Currently, we are not able to provide statistics regarding the reason the application was returned or provide statistics on applications that were returned because the applicant did not meet the qualifications to receive a notary commission. |
| Government Certificates Penalties Against: | 0 |
| Penalty Certificate Descriptions: | The Secretary of State’s Office does not have authority to fine or assess a monetary penalty against a commissioned notary public. We do have authority to cancel or temporarily revoke the commission of a notary public. Information regarding cancelling or revoking the commission of a notary public has been reported above. |
| Explanation of Effectiveness: | https://nebraskalegislature.gov/pdf/SurveyDocs/explanation1697836013.pdf |
| Potential Harm | Banking, real estate, and legal professions depend heavily on notarized documents which are often filed for public record or used in legal proceedings. The functions a notary performs, such as verifying the identity of the signer of a document and verifying that the signer actually signed the document, are extremely important in the prevention of fraud and the free flow of commerce.
If notaries are no longer regulated, there would be significant concern with the potential for fraudulent documents to enter our legal and real estate titling systems.
Further, the certificate of a notary public is accepted in all courts of the state as presumptive evidence of the facts certified therein. If the judicial system was no longer able to rely on the notary certificate, some other method for verification would be needed to authenticate the signature of the person signing the document. That would place an undue burden on business, real estate and legal transactions.
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| Regulation Comparison: | https://nebraskalegislature.gov/pdf/SurveyDocs/comparison1697836013.pdf |
| Subject to Regulations of Act(LB407): | No |