SB 2275 Summary

• Updates Hawaii's notary public laws to align with the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (2018), the Hawaii Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and current notary practices.

• Authorizes remote online notarization for remotely located individuals using communication technology, requiring notaries to verify identity through personal knowledge, credible witnesses, or identity proofing methods.

• Allows notaries to perform notarial acts on electronic documents using tamper-evident technologies and requires remote online notaries to maintain audiovisual recordings of notarial acts for at least 10 years.

• Changes notary record-keeping from "record books" to "journals" (tangible or electronic format), requiring contemporaneous entries for all notarial acts with specific information including identity verification method and fees charged.

• Establishes that a notary shall not perform notarial acts on documents to which the notary or the notary's spouse or civil partner is a party or has a direct beneficial interest, with violations rendering the notarial act voidable.

• Effective January 1, 2021.