BILL NUMBER: AB 625	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Quirk

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to amend Section 1185 of the Civil Code, and to amend
Section 8230 of the Government Code, relating to notaries.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 625, as introduced, Quirk. Notaries Public: acceptance of
identification.
   (1) Existing law relating to property transfers specifies certain
documents as allowable forms of identification for a credible
witness, who, by oath or affirmation, attests to the identity of an
individual executing a written instrument in the presence of, and
acknowledged by, a notary public. Existing law specifies that an
inmate identification card that is current or has been issued within
5 years by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation if the
inmate is in custody is an allowable form of identification, for
purposes of these provisions, if it contains certain identifying
information, including a photograph and description of the person
named on it, is signed by the person, and has a serial or other
identifying number.
   This bill would make that inmate identification card without that
additional identifying information an allowable form of
identification for a credible witness to prove the identity of an
individual who executes a written instrument.
   (2) Existing law requires a notary public when notarizing a
document that purports to identify the affiant, as specified, to
verify the affiant's identity using either a certified copy of the
person's birth certificate or an identification card or a driver's
license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
   This bill would also authorize a notary public to accept as
verification, an inmate identification card issued by the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) The state and its counties have a financial and public safety
interest in ensuring the children of people convicted of felonies and
sentenced to state prison time have access to appropriate schooling
and medical treatment. Eighty percent of imprisoned women are mothers
and the vast majority were the primary care provider of minor
children at the time of their arrest and imprisonment. These minor
children's access to school and medical treatment may be
unnecessarily interrupted should their incarcerated parent lack
timely and affordable access to a notary necessary for them to
complete paperwork to establish temporary guardianship for their
children.
   (b) The state and its counties have a financial and public safety
interest in ensuring people convicted of felonies and sentenced to
state prison time are able to successfully reenter their communities
upon completion of their sentences and live a crime-free life.
Evidence-based research demonstrates a clear connection between
decreased recidivism rates and strength of familial bonds during
periods of incarceration. These bonds are weakened when minor
children are unnecessarily prevented from visiting incarcerated
parents due merely to the incarcerated parents' lack of timely and
affordable access to a notary public required to complete required
visitation forms.
   (c) The state has taken significant measures to assure due process
and accuracy in determining the identity of people convicted of
felonies and held in control of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, and in tracking these individuals' appropriate
identity through issuance and monitoring of state inmate
identification cards.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1185 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   1185.  (a) The acknowledgment of an instrument shall not be taken
unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the
person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is described
in and who executed the instrument.
   (b) For purposes of this section "satisfactory evidence" means the
absence of information, evidence, or other circumstances that would
lead a reasonable person to believe that the person making the
acknowledgment is not the individual he or she claims to be and any
one of the following:
   (1) (A) The oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally
known to the officer, whose identity is proven to the officer upon
presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of paragraph
(3) or (4), that the person making the acknowledgment is personally
known to the witness and that each of the following are true:
   (i) The person making the acknowledgment is the person named in
the document.
   (ii) The person making the acknowledgment is personally known to
the witness.
   (iii) That it is the reasonable belief of the witness that the
circumstances of the person making the acknowledgment are such that
it would be very difficult or impossible for that person to obtain
another form of identification.
   (iv) The person making the acknowledgment does not possess any of
the identification documents named in paragraphs (3) and (4).
   (v) The witness does not have a financial interest in the document
being acknowledged and is not named in the document.
   (B) A notary public who violates this section by failing to obtain
the satisfactory evidence required by subparagraph (A) shall be
subject to a civil penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars
($10,000). An action to impose this civil penalty may be brought by
the Secretary of State in an administrative proceeding or a public
prosecutor in superior court, and shall be enforced as a civil
judgment. A public prosecutor shall inform the secretary of any civil
penalty imposed under this subparagraph.
   (2) The oath or affirmation under penalty of perjury of two
credible witnesses, whose identities are proven to the officer upon
the presentation of a document satisfying the requirements of
paragraph (3) or (4), that each statement in paragraph (1) is true.
   (3) Reasonable reliance on the presentation to the officer of any
one of the following, if the document is current or has been issued
within five years:
   (A) An identification card or driver's license issued by the
Department of Motor Vehicles.
   (B) A passport issued by the Department of State of the United
States. 
   (C) An inmate identification card issued by the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation if the inmate is in custody. 
   (4) Reasonable reliance on the presentation of any one of the
following, provided that a document specified in subparagraphs (A) to
 (F)   (E)  , inclusive, shall either be
current or have been issued within five years and shall contain a
photograph and description of the person named on it, shall be signed
by the person, shall bear a serial or other identifying number, and,
in the event that the document is a passport, shall have been
stamped by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services of
the Department of Homeland Security:
   (A) A passport issued by a foreign government.
   (B) A driver's license issued by a state other than California or
by a Canadian or Mexican public agency authorized to issue driver's
licenses.
   (C) An identification card issued by a state other than
California.
   (D) An identification card issued by any branch of the Armed
Forces of the United States. 
   (E) An inmate identification card issued on or after January 1,
1988, by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the
inmate is in custody.  
   (F) 
    (E)  An employee identification card issued by an agency
or office of the State of California, or by an agency or office of a
city, county, or city and county in this state. 
   (G) An inmate identification card issued prior to January 1, 1988,
by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate
is in custody. 
   (c) An officer who has taken an acknowledgment pursuant to this
section shall be presumed to have operated in accordance with the
provisions of law.
   (d) A party who files an action for damages based on the failure
of the officer to establish the proper identity of the person making
the acknowledgment shall have the burden of proof in establishing the
negligence or misconduct of the officer.
   (e) A person convicted of perjury under this section shall forfeit
any financial interest in the document.
  SEC. 3.  Section 8230 of the Government Code is amended to read:
   8230.  If a notary public executes a jurat and the statement sworn
or subscribed to is contained in a document purporting to identify
the affiant, and includes the birthdate or age of the person and a
purported photograph or finger or thumbprint of the person so
swearing or subscribing, the notary public shall require, as a
condition to executing the jurat, that the person verify the
birthdate or age contained in the statement by showing 
either   any of the following  :
   (a) A certified copy of the person's birth certificate, or
   (b) An identification card or driver's license issued by the
Department of Motor Vehicles. 
   (c) An inmate identification card issued by the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, if the inmate is in custody. 
   For the purposes of preparing for submission of forms required by
the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, and only
for such purposes, a notary public may also accept for identification
any documents or declarations acceptable to the United States
Immigration and Naturalization Service.