Notaries public: acceptance of identification.

Existing law relating to property transfers prohibits the acknowledgment of an instrument unless the officer taking it has satisfactory evidence that the person making the acknowledgment is the individual who is described in and who executed the instrument. Existing law provides that an officer may reasonably rely on, among other things, a passport issued by a foreign government, a driver's license issued by another state or a Canadian or Mexican public agency, an identification card issued by another state or a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or an employee identification card issued by an agency or office of this state or a city, county, or city and county in this state, provided that the document meets certain requirements. In the event the document is a passport, it must be stamped by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security. This bill, instead of that provision pertaining to a passport issued by a foreign government, would authorize the acceptance of a valid passport from the applicant's country of citizenship, or a valid consular identification document issued by a consulate from the applicant's country of citizenship, as proof of identity. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the passport be stamped by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1185 of the Civil Code proposed by SB 997 that would become operative if this bill and SB 997 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.