House Bill No. 446 Summary

• Requires notary public official stamps to include the notary's name, "Notary Public," "State of Idaho," the state-issued commission number, and a serrated or milled-edge border in rectangular or circular form.

• Establishes that stamping devices for tangible records must be inked stamps not exceeding 2.25 inches by 1 inch (rectangular) or 1.75 inches in diameter (circular), and stamping devices for electronic records must be electronic devices meeting the same stamp requirements.

• Makes notaries responsible for securing their stamping devices and requires them to disable or destroy the device upon resignation, revocation, expiration, or death of the notary; requires prompt notification if the device is lost or stolen.

• Changes the application process so surety bond assurance of $10,000 must be submitted at the time of application submission rather than before commission issuance, and allows reappointment no earlier than 90 days before term expiration.

• Removes references to "refusal to renew" commissions throughout the statute, replacing them with authority to "deny" applications; changes the effective date for application provisions to July 1, 2018 and stamping device provisions to October 1, 2018.