Gov. Code, § 8231.6 · Article 2. Online Notarization
Gov. Code, § 8231.6
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A notary public shall create an audio-video recording of the audio-visual communication of each online notarial act performed through the online notarization platform pursuant to Section 8231.4 and this section.
(b) (1) The notary public shall retain the audio-video recording on an encrypted storage device or encrypted online media that is accessed by the notary public with secure multifactor means of authentication. The audio-video recording shall be created in an open format and shall not include images of any electronic record that was the subject of the online notarization. The notary public shall utilize an online notarization platform or depository approved by the Secretary of State for purposes of this section.
(2) An online notarization platform may retain custody of the audio-video recording on behalf of the notary public if it expressly provides custodial services and provided that information to the Secretary of State in its application under Section 8231.14. If the online notarization platform does not provide custodial services for a notary public, the online notarization platform has a duty not to retain the audio-video recordings after providing a reasonable opportunity for the download by the notary public as required by subdivision (i) of Section 8231.14. The Secretary of State shall establish by rule or regulation the time period that constitutes a “reasonable opportunity” for downloading the audio-video recording.
(c) A notary public shall retain the audio-video recording of each online notarial act with either of the following:
(1) An online notarization platform that provides custodial services to the notary public and provided that information to the Secretary of State in its registration under Section 8231.14.
(2) A depository registered with the Secretary of State under Section 8231.14.
(d) The notary public shall retain each audio-video recording created as required by this section for at least 10 years after the performance of the notarial act documented in the audio-video recording, regardless of the notary public’s current authorization status to perform online notarizations. The notary public shall cause the audio-video recording to be retained either:
(1) Personally.
(2) By a depository registered with the Secretary of State.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 291, Sec. 8. (SB 696) Effective January 1, 2024.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=8231.6.
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- sha256 3114c107c1b986671b51fc08870ee6f1a5abc14c7d2826b10cae66752534a5df
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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