The Illinois General Assembly passed a bill that makes changes to the Illinois Notary Public Act. The bill, HB 2269, was sponsored by Reps. Marcus Evans Jr., D-Chicago; Camille Lilly, D-Chicago; Cynthia Soto, D-Chicago; Ann Williams, D-Chicago; Emily McAsey, D-Romeoville; and Emanuel Chris Welch, D-Westchester.
Under current law, beginning in July, at the time of notarization, a notary public shall officially sign every notary certificate and affix the rubber stamp seal clearly and legibly using black ink, so that it is capable of photographic reproduction. The illegibility of any of the information does not affect the validity of a real estate transaction. The bill would eliminate this requirement, which notaries conducting real estate signings would have to adhere to beginning July 1.
The bill also extends until July 1, 2018, the maximum fee a notary is able to charge for a real estate signing. The maximum fee was set to expire on July 1.
The definition of identification documents was also set to expire on July 1. The Illinois General Assembly removed the time constraint so the definition of identification documents simply states that the documents are documents that are valid at the time of the notarial act, issued by a state agency, federal government agency or consulate and bear the photographic image of the individual’s face and signature of the individual.”