Act No. 155

Public Acts of 2006

Approved by the Governor

May 25, 2006

Filed with the Secretary of State

May 26, 2006

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 26, 2006

STATE OF MICHIGAN

93RD LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2006

Introduced by Senator Hammerstrom

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 908

AN ACT to amend 2003 PA 238, entitled "An act to provide for the qualification, appointment, and regulation of notaries; to provide for the levy, assessment, and collection of certain service charges and fees and to provide for their disposition; to create certain funds for certain purposes; to provide for liability for certain persons; to provide for the admissibility of certain evidence; to prescribe powers and duties of certain state agencies and local officers; to provide for remedies and penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts," by amending sections 27 and 47 (MCL 55.287 and55.307); and to repeal acts and parts of acts.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 27. (1) A notary public shall place his or her signature on every record upon which he or she performs a notarial act. The notary public shall sign his or her name exactly as his or her name appears on his or her application for commission as a notary public.

(2) On each record that a notary public performs a notarial act and immediately near the notary public's signature, as is practical, the notary public shall print, type, stamp, or otherwise imprint mechanically or electronically sufficiently clear and legible to be read by the secretary and in a manner capable of photographic reproduction all of the following in this format or in a similar format that conveys all of the same information:

(a) The name of the notary public exactly as it appears on his or her application for commission as a notary public.

(b) The statement: "Notary public, State of Michigan, County of _______________.".

(c) The statement: "My commission expires _______________.".

(d) If performing a notarial act in a county other than the county of commission, the statement: "Acting in the County of _______________.".

(e) The date the notarial act was performed.

(3) A notary public may use a stamp, seal, or electronic process that contains all of the information required by subsection (2). However, the stamp, seal, or electronic process shall not be used in a manner that renders anything illegible on the record being notarized. An embosser alone or any other method that cannot be reproduced shall not be used.

(4) The illegibility of the statements required in subsection (2) does not affect the validity of the transaction or record that was notarized.

Sec. 47. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and in the courts of this state, the certificate of a notary public of official acts performed in the capacity of a notary public, under the seal of office, is presumptive evidence of the facts contained in the certificate except that the certificate is not evidence of a notice of nonacceptance or nonpayment in any case in which a defendant attaches to his or her pleadings an affidavit denying the fact of having received that notice of nonacceptance or nonpayment.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the court may invalidate any notarial act not performed in compliance with this act.

Enacting section 1. Section 29 of the Michigan notary public act, 2003 PA 238, MCL 55.289, is repealed.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Secretary of the Senate

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Approved

Governor