Has anyone read the bill currently pending before Congress that would purportedly allow all notaries across the country, under certain conditions, to perform remote online notarizations (RON)? Its supported by a number of trade groups including ALTA, NAR and MBA. Currently there are approximately 23 states with RON laws.

My company is looking to be ready to implement RON as soon as possible if/when this bill passes Congress, however I'm not sure this is the panacea that everyone is looking for, as there are a number of questions about how this law will effect the 27 states that do not currently allow for RON.

A couple of questions for folks who have read the bill (I've included a link below to the text):

-Does this bill apply to notaries who perform notarial acts within the state in which the notary is commissioned? The bill talks at great length about notarial acts performed by notaries in states outside of the one they are commissioned in being accepted by federal and state courts in other states, but it does not contain a specific affirmative statement regarding notarial acts wholly contained within a state, meaning the notary, the parties and the property affected all are in the same state.

- If a state has not adopted a RON law yet, does the bill's specific language about not preempting current state law mean that states without RON will continue to require personal presence for notarial acts?

Link to the text of the bill. Full disclosure - it will take you the text of the bill housed on Sen. Cramer's website. He and Sen. Warner are the co-sponsor's of the bill. His was the only place I could actually find the text of the bill.

Text of SECURE Notarizations Act bill

Since the bill was just introduced on Wednesday of last week, I doubt anyone has even heard of it. Until it starts gaining some traction, I would not speculate a guess on the eventual outcome.