H.B. No. 677
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the validity of certain documents to which certain
    1-3  notaries public fail to attach an official seal.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 121.004, Civil Practice and Remedies
    1-6  Code, is amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
    1-7        (c)  The failure of a notary public to attach an official
    1-8  seal to a certificate of an acknowledgement or proof of a written
    1-9  instrument made outside this state but inside the United States or
   1-10  its territories renders the acknowledgement or proof invalid only
   1-11  if the jurisdiction in which the certificate is made requires the
   1-12  notary public to attach the seal.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Section 12.001, Property Code, is amended by
   1-14  adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
   1-15        (d)  The failure of a notary public to attach an official
   1-16  seal to an acknowledgment, a jurat, or other proof taken outside
   1-17  this state but inside the United States or its territories renders
   1-18  the acknowledgment, jurat, or other proof invalid only if the
   1-19  jurisdiction in which the acknowledgment, jurat, or other proof is
   1-20  taken requires the notary public to attach the seal.
   1-21        SECTION 3.  Subchapter B, Chapter 405, Government Code, is
   1-22  amended by adding Section 405.019 to read as follows:
   1-23        Sec. 405.019.  LIST OF STATES REQUIRING AN OFFICIAL SEAL FOR
   1-24  CERTAIN DOCUMENTS.  (a)  The secretary of state annually shall
    2-1  compile a list of those states or territories within the United
    2-2  States that require a notary public to validate a certificate of an
    2-3  acknowledgement, proof of a written instrument, or a jurat by
    2-4  attaching an official seal.
    2-5        (b)  The secretary of state shall send the list to each of
    2-6  the county clerks of this state before January 1 of each year.
    2-7        (c)  The secretary of state shall amend the list and
    2-8  immediately send the amended list to the county clerks of this
    2-9  state if the secretary learns that a state or territory has changed
   2-10  its requirements relating to a notary public in a manner that
   2-11  requires it to be added to or deleted from the list.
   2-12        SECTION 4.  This Act applies to the validity of an instrument
   2-13  on or after the effective date of this Act, without regard to
   2-14  whether:
   2-15              (1)  the instrument was created before, on, or after
   2-16  the effective date of this Act; or
   2-17              (2)  an action taken by a notary public in relation to
   2-18  the instrument occurred before, on, or after that date.
   2-19        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-25  passage, and it is so enacted.