Bill Text: IL SB2588 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Notary Public Act. Provides that neither a notary public nor an electronic notary public is required to keep a journal of or to otherwise record in a journal a notarial act or an electronic notarial act if that act is performed on specified electoral documents to be filed by or on behalf of a candidate for public office. Clarifies that this exemption from the Act's ordinarily applicable journaling requirement applies without regard to whether the notarial act is performed before, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Defines "public office". Adds a nonacceleration clause. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-08-16 - Referred to Assignments [SB2588 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB2588-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 SB2588 Introduced 8/16/2023, by Sen. Don Harmon SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 312/3-107
Amends the Illinois Notary Public Act. Provides that neither a notary public nor an electronic notary public is required to keep a journal of or to otherwise record in a journal a notarial act or an electronic notarial act if that act is performed on specified electoral documents to be filed by or on behalf of a candidate for public office. Clarifies that this exemption from the Act's ordinarily applicable journaling requirement applies without regard to whether the notarial act is performed before, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Defines "public office". Adds a nonacceleration clause. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 3. The Illinois Notary Public Act is amended by
changing Section 3-107 as follows:
(5 ILCS 312/3-107)
(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a
delayed effective date)
Sec. 3-107. Journal.
(a) A notary public or an electronic notary public shall
keep a journal of each notarial act or electronic notarial act
which includes, without limitation, the requirements set by
the Secretary of State in administrative rule, but shall not
include any electronic signatures of the person for whom an
electronic notarial act was performed or any witnesses.
(b) The Secretary of State shall adopt administrative
rules that set forth, at a minimum:
(1) the information to be recorded for each
notarization or electronic notarization;
(2) the period during which the notary public or
electronic notary public must maintain the journal; and
(3) the minimum security requirements for protecting
the information in the journal and access to the contents

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of the journal.
(c) A notary or electronic notary may maintain his or her
journal in either paper form or electronic form and may
maintain more than one journal or electronic journal to record
notarial acts or electronic notarial acts.
(d) The fact that the employer or contractor of a notary or
electronic notary public keeps a record of notarial acts or
electronic notarial acts does not relieve the notary public of
the duties required by this Section. A notary public or
electronic notary public shall not surrender the journal to an
employer upon termination of employment and an employer shall
not retain the journal of an employee when the employment of
the notary public or electronic notary public ceases.
(e) If the journal of a notary public or electronic notary
public is lost, stolen, or compromised, the notary or
electronic notary shall notify the Secretary of State within
10 business days after the discovery of the loss, theft, or
breach of security.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section or
any rules adopted under this Section, neither a notary public
nor an electronic notary public is required to keep a journal
of or to otherwise record in a journal a notarial act or an
electronic notarial act if that act is performed on any of the
following documents to be filed by or on behalf of a candidate
for public office:
(1) nominating petitions;

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(2) petitions of candidacy;
(3) petitions for nomination;
(4) nominating papers; or
(5) nomination papers.
The exemption under this subsection (f) applies regardless
of whether the notarial act or electronic notarial act is
performed on the documents described in paragraphs (1) through
(5) of this subsection before, on, or after the effective date
of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly, and the
failure of a notary public or an electronic notary public to
keep a journal of or to otherwise record such an act does not
affect the validity of the notarial act on that document and is
not a violation of this Act. As used in this subsection (f),
"public office" has the meaning given in Section 9-1.10 of the
Election Code.
(Source: P.A. 102-160 (See Section 99 of P.A. 102-160 for
effective date of P.A. 102-160).)
Section 95. No acceleration or delay. Where this Act makes
changes in a statute that is represented in this Act by text
that is not yet or no longer in effect (for example, a Section
represented by multiple versions), the use of that text does
not accelerate or delay the taking effect of (i) the changes
made by this Act or (ii) provisions derived from any other
Public Act.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon

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