The Senate gave unanimous approval to legislation to allow notary publics to certify electronic documents.
Sen. Paul Rosino, R-Oklahoma City, is the author of Senate Bill 915 which would create a Remote Online Notarization (RON) process in Oklahoma allowing notaries to perform their services online over secure audio video calls rather than in person.
Under SB 915, a notary must verify that the document is in a tamper-evident format and contains no signature-related errors.
The notary must also personally print the paper and ensure no changes are made other than indicating the document is certified by them.
The certified document may then be submitted to state and county officials if a certified document is required.
The measure does not apply to a plat, plan, map, or survey of real property in certain circumstances.
The Secretary of State would create rules governing electronic document certification to address what tools could be used to validate documents, storage of electronic documents, creating forms for remote online notarizations, and other matters deemed necessary by the Secretary.
The Secretary of State could use national entities for guidance.