07-11-08 New Requirements for Notaries Public in the State of Hawaii

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l N/ Y` LINDA LINGLE MARK J.BENNETT GOVERNOR s �c," ATTORNEY GENERAL �y; - f� LISA M.GINOZA STATE OF HAWAII FIRST DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 425 QUEEN STREET HONOLULU,HAWAII 96813 (808)586-1500 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NEW NOTARY RULES QUESTION 1: Why wasn't I individually notified before the new rules went into effect? ANSWER: The new rules were adopted in accordance with the Hawaii Administrative Procedure Act, Haw. Rev. Stat. Ch. 91. Notices of the public hearing describing the new rules were published in five newspapers of general circulation on February 29, 2008 (The Garden Isle), March 2, 2008 (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, The Maui News, and West Hawaii Today), and March 9, 2008 (Hawaii Tribune-Herald) before Chapter 5-11, Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR), went into effect. The duly noticed public hearing concerning the rules was held on April 14, 2008, at the Department of the Attorney General, 425 Queen Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. Although all legally required notice requirements were met, we apologize that our notification to notaries was not better-- it should have been better. We did some outreach, but not enough. We are currently sending each active notary an informational sheet and these questions and answers, and we are working with the Hawaii State Bar Association and various professionals and businesses that regularly use notaries to further disseminate the new requirements. QUESTION 2: What is the effective date of the new rules? Is there also a new notary statute? ANSWER: The new rules became effective on May 5, 2008. Act 175, Session Laws Hawaii 2008, which also concerns notaries, will become effective on January 1, 2009. We encourage you to read a complete copy of Act 175 and HAR Chapter 5-11, both of which are available at our notary website: http://hawaii.gov/ag/notary/. QUESTION 3: Why do we need rules that change the way documents are notarized? ANSWER: The Department of the Attorney General and the Legislature received complaints of fraud in connection with notarized documents, including reports of"jurat" pages being detached from their original document and then "switched" or reattached to another document for fraudulent purposes. The Legislature found that "there is an alarming increase in the alteration of notarized documents for the purpose of identity theft and fraud." One purpose of the new rules is to help prevent fraudulent use of notarized documents by, among other things, having the notary list the number of pages of each notarized document and providing an identification or description of the notarized document"in close proximity" to the jurat or acknowledgment.