Honorable Jeff Leach, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB693 by West (relating to notaries public; creating a criminal offense; authorizing a fee.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted
The bill would establish the Class A misdemeanor offense of performing a notarization with knowledge that the person for whom the notarization is performed did not personally appear before the notary, with an enhancement to a state jail felony if that notarization involved the transfer of real property or any interest in real property.
Creating a new criminal offense may result in an increase in demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2024, there was 1 arrest, no referrals, no placements onto adult community supervision, and no individuals admitted into an adult or juvenile state correctional facility for any offense involving a notary public.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.