Tennessee Adopts New Electronic Notarization Provisions

Tennessee recently passed companion bills Senate Bill 1758 and House Bill 1794 which amend Section 66-22-101 of the Tennessee Code Annotated to allow electronic notarizations.  For administrative and rulemaking purposes, this act takes effect immediately, but for all other purposes the act takes effect July 1, 2019.

Along with allowing an electronic signature as a form of original signature, the amendments will allow a person to personally appear by an interactive two-way audio and video communication that meets the online notarization requirements that will be promulgated by the Tennessee Secretary of State.  If online notarization is utilized, the notary must amend his or her acknowledgement from “personally appeared” or “appeared before me” to “remotely appeared” or “remotely appeared before me.”

A notary public will have to apply to the Tennessee Secretary of State to be commissioned as an online notary public.  Once approved by the Tennessee Secretary of State, the notary public will be able to electronically notarize, among other things, a document involving real estate located in Tennessee.  The online notary public must keep a secure electronic record of electronic notarizations for five years.  The electronic record must include, among other things, a recording of any video and audio conference that is the basis for satisfactory evidence of identity and a notation of the type of identification presented as evidence.

It will be a class D felony for a person, without authorization, to knowingly obtain, conceal, damage, or destroy the online notary public hardware in order to affix an official electronic signature and seal.

The Tennessee House Bill 1794 can be found here.