1-1  By:  Craddick (Senate Sponsor - Bivins)                H.B. No. 677
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House March 16, 1995;
    1-3  March 20, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
    1-4  Affairs; April 28, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
    1-5  Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 28, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the validity of certain documents to which certain
    1-9  notaries public fail to attach an official seal.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Section 121.004, Civil Practice and Remedies
   1-12  Code, is amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
   1-13        (c)  The failure of a notary public to attach an official
   1-14  seal to a certificate of an acknowledgement or proof of a written
   1-15  instrument made outside this state but inside the United States or
   1-16  its territories renders the acknowledgement or proof invalid only
   1-17  if the jurisdiction in which the certificate is made requires the
   1-18  notary public to attach the seal.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Section 12.001, Property Code, is amended by
   1-20  adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
   1-21        (d)  The failure of a notary public to attach an official
   1-22  seal to an acknowledgment, a jurat, or other proof taken outside
   1-23  this state but inside the United States or its territories renders
   1-24  the acknowledgment, jurat, or other proof invalid only if the
   1-25  jurisdiction in which the acknowledgment, jurat, or other proof is
   1-26  taken requires the notary public to attach the seal.
   1-27        SECTION 3.  Subchapter B, Chapter 405, Government Code, is
   1-28  amended by adding Section 405.019 to read as follows:
   1-29        Sec. 405.019.  LIST OF STATES REQUIRING AN OFFICIAL SEAL FOR
   1-30  CERTAIN DOCUMENTS.  (a)  The secretary of state annually shall
   1-31  compile a list of those states or territories within the United
   1-32  States that require a notary public to validate a certificate of an
   1-33  acknowledgement, proof of a written instrument, or a jurat by
   1-34  attaching an official seal.
   1-35        (b)  The secretary of state shall send the list to each of
   1-36  the county clerks of this state before January 1 of each year.
   1-37        (c)  The secretary of state shall amend the list and
   1-38  immediately send the amended list to the county clerks of this
   1-39  state if the secretary learns that a state or territory has changed
   1-40  its requirements relating to a notary public in a manner that
   1-41  requires it to be added to or deleted from the list.
   1-42        SECTION 4.  This Act applies to the validity of an instrument
   1-43  on or after the effective date of this Act, without regard to
   1-44  whether:
   1-45              (1)  the instrument was created before, on, or after
   1-46  the effective date of this Act; or
   1-47              (2)  an action taken by a notary public in relation to
   1-48  the instrument occurred before, on, or after that date.
   1-49        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-50  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-51  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-52  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-53  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-54  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-55  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-56                               * * * * *