What California Will Require of Online Notaries

California notaries cannot notarize online yet. In the handbook's words: "No, current California Law does not provide the authority for California notaries to perform a remote online notarization using audio-video communication."

The Online Notarization Act, Senate Bill 696 (Chapter 291, Statutes of 2023), already sets out requirements a notary will have to meet before notarizing online. They include:

A California notary commission, with the six-hour course and the written examination behind it.
Registration with the Secretary of State.
A two-hour course of study and a second written examination, both about online notarization.
At reappointment, the three-hour refresher, which has conditions of its own, and the two-hour course.
A $25,000 bond in place of the ordinary $15,000 one.
Being physically in California for each online notarization.

The online part of that list is not operative yet. The Act bars online notarization before a notary registers, before the Secretary of State adopts its rules, and before the Secretary of State's technology project is complete. Those clauses are quoted in When online notarization can begin. How the Act comes into force in stages, and the condition attached to its January 1, 2030 date, are set out in the first-appointment guide's section on whether you can notarize online in California.

Every requirement below is drawn from the bill as chaptered, as the California Legislature's website published it on September 14, 2026, and from the California Notary Public Handbook, January 2026 edition, published by the Secretary of State.

This guide is not the course. Reading it does not count toward the six hours a first commission requires or the three hours of a refresher, and cannot. The statutory education requirement is satisfied only by completing a course of study the Secretary of State has approved and receiving that vendor's Proof of Completion certificate. This page is general information about California notary law, not legal advice.

It starts with an ordinary commission

Online authorization will rest on a California notary commission. Section 8231.3 of the Government Code sets the requirements for registering to perform online notarizations, and it begins with the ordinary education and examination. An applicant will need to have completed, "[d]uring the commissioning for appointment as a notary public", "the six-hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State as required by paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 8201" and "a written examination as required by paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 8201."

Section 8231.3 then speaks to three situations it will govern.

Applying for a commission. "An applicant for a commission as a notary public may apply for registration with the Secretary of State to perform online notarization by complying with the requirements of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 8200)." Chapter 3 is the Government Code's chapter on notaries public. The steps to a first commission are walked in order in How to Become a Notary in California.
Already holding a commission. A notary who holds one but is not registered "may obtain registration before the expiration of their term by resigning their current commission in the manner prescribed by the Secretary of State and meeting the requirements of Article 1 (commencing with Section 8200) and Article 2 (commencing with Section 8231)." The next sentence will keep the old commission running in the meantime: "The notary public's current commission shall remain in full force and effect until the effective date of the new commission."
Applying for reappointment. That case has its own section below.

A two-hour course and a second examination

Section 8231.3(b)(1)(B) adds the new requirements. To register, an applicant will also need to have "satisfactorily completed a two-hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 8201.2 concerning the functions and duties of a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations under this article", and a written examination "prescribed by the Secretary of State to determine the fitness of the person to exercise the functions and duties of a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations."

The questions will come from the same booklet as the ordinary examination's. The next sentence of subparagraph (B) reads: "All questions shall be based on the laws of this state as set forth in the booklet of the laws of California relating to notaries public distributed by the Secretary of State." Section 8201(a)(4), which sets the ordinary examination, names "the booklet of the laws of California relating to notaries public distributed by the Secretary of State" as well.

The details of registration are left to rules. Section 8231.2(a) requires the Secretary of State to adopt rules and regulations with standards on a list of subjects that includes "[r]egistration with the Secretary of State as a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations, or registration as a depository or an online notarization platform."

At reappointment, the refresher and the two-hour course

Section 8231.3(b)(2): "A notary public who applies for reappointment and authorization to perform online notarizations shall satisfactorily complete the three-hour refresher course of study required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 8201 and the two-hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State required by subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1)."

The second course it names is the one from subparagraph (B), so the two-hour course will be required at reappointment as well as at registration. The refresher is the one section 8201(b)(2) requires, and it comes with conditions of its own. Who qualifies for it, and when a renewing notary owes six hours instead, are set out in Six-Hour vs. Three-Hour California Notary Course.

Paragraph (2) names those two courses and no examination. It does not say whether the examination in subparagraph (B) is taken again at reappointment.

A $25,000 bond in place of the $15,000 one

Section 8231.10: "Every person appointed as a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations shall execute an official bond in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in lieu of the bond required by Section 8212." Section 8212 sets the ordinary notary's bond at $15,000, so an online notary's $25,000 bond will take the place of that one.

Like the ordinary bond, it will have to come from a surety insurer: "The bond shall be in the form of a bond executed by an admitted surety insurer and not a deposit in lieu of bond." It will be filed "with the county clerk within which the notary public maintains a principal place of business pursuant to Section 8213."

The section also limits what the surety pays. For "the official misconduct or neglect of a notary public related to this article", the notary and the sureties will be liable to a person injured, but "the amount of the surety's liability shall be limited to fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) for notarial acts arising under Article 1 (commencing with Section 8200), and twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for online notarial acts arising under this article." The next sentence caps the two together: "Under no circumstances shall the surety's liability exceed the aggregate amount of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000)." Those limits will apply to the surety, and section 8231.10 sets none on the notary's own liability. What the ordinary bond does for a notary, and what it does not, is covered in How to Become a Notary in California.

Where the notary must be, and where the principal can be

Section 8231.4(a) gives the authority to "[a] notary public authorized to perform online notarization and physically located in this state". The notary will have to be in California. The principal, the Act's word for the person who appears before the notary, will be allowed to be in California, elsewhere in the United States, or outside the United States "if the act is not prohibited in the jurisdiction in which the principal is physically located at the time of the act."

Today the person who appears before a notary has to be physically present. For an online notary, section 8231.4(b)(1) will satisfy a requirement that a principal appear before the notary by "appearing by means of audio-video communication before a notary public authorized to perform online notarization in compliance with the requirements of this article and the rules or regulations adopted by the Secretary of State pursuant to this article." The audio and video will have to be continuous and synchronous, and the notary "shall terminate the session if, in the notary public's judgment, the adequacy of communications is insufficient for all participants to be clearly seen and understood at all times."

When online notarization can begin

The Act became effective on January 1, 2024, and the handbook says "the Act is operative in stages". Its introduction says the rest of the Act, including the appointment requirements, will "become operative when the California Secretary of State completes the Notary Automation Project 2.0 necessary to implement the new provisions or by January 1, 2030, whichever is earlier." None of sections 8231.3, 8231.4 and 8231.10 carries a date of its own. Online notarization is held back by prohibitions in the Act, and the introduction does not mention the one on rules:

Registration and the technology project. Section 8231(b): a notary "shall not provide online notarization for any principal pursuant to this article prior to registration with the Secretary of State or prior to completion of the Secretary of State's technology project necessary to implement statutes related to online notarization."
The rules. Section 8231.2(d): "A commissioned notary public shall not provide online notarization for any principal before the adoption of rules by the Secretary of State pursuant to this section."
A certification, or a date. Civil Code section 1181.1, in the version the Act put in place first, bars online notarization "until the earlier of the following": the Secretary of State's certification on its internet website that the technology project is complete, or January 1, 2030. That date carries a condition. The handbook reproduces the second version of section 1181.1, which "shall become operative upon the earlier of" the same two events. The first-appointment guide quotes that version's condition and compares it with section 8231(b) in its section on notarizing online.

The handbook's question-and-answer section words the timing another way. It says the Act "is not set to commence until January 1, 2030, and will not take effect until the Secretary of State certifies that it has completed the technology project (NAP 2.0) necessary to implement the remote online notarization." In section 1181.1 the certification and January 1, 2030 are alternatives, and the earlier one counts. Where the handbook's summaries and the statute differ, rely on the statute.

What else the Act asks of an online notary

Registration, the courses, the examinations, the bond and the notary's location are what the sections quoted above will require of an online notary, and section 8231.2(a) leaves the standards for registration to the Secretary of State's rules. Each online notarization will carry duties as well. Section 8231.4(b)(3) is one: "The notary public, by use of the online notarization system, shall create the audio-video recording required by Section 8231.6." Others are in sections of the Act this guide does not quote, including "the electronic journal required by Section 8231.5", which section 8231.3(e) mentions. More will come from the rules the Secretary of State must adopt under section 8231.2(a), whose listed subjects include identity proofing and "[e]lectronic and tangible journals, including their form and content." This guide does not cover those duties.

What the Act leaves open

What the two-hour course will contain. The Act's only words about it are in section 8231.3(b): its length, its approval "pursuant to Section 8201.2", and its subject, "the functions and duties of a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations under this article". The Act did not amend section 8201.2, and subdivision (a) of that section, as the handbook reproduces it, directs the Secretary of State to review courses of study "to be offered pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) and paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 8201", which are the six-hour course and the refresher. How the state reviews and approves courses today is set out in How California Regulates Notary Education.
What registration will cost. Section 8231.3(d) lets the Secretary of State charge "an additional fee for an application for registration" and states no amount.
What the examination will look like. Beyond its purpose and the booklet its questions will come from, the Act's text gives no format, length or passing score.

Official sources

Do not take an article's word for what the statute requires.

Senate Bill 696 (Chapter 291, Statutes of 2023), the Online Notarization Act — bill text
California Notary Public Handbook, plus a checklist of the required steps to become a notary public — www.sos.ca.gov/notary
Secretary of State, Notary Public Section — Business Programs Division, P.O. Box 942877, Sacramento, California 94277-0001; (916) 653-3595

Where notrai fits

notrai is a California Secretary of State–approved notary public education vendor. The Secretary of State approved two notrai courses of study on August 26, 2026 — the six-hour course for first-time applicants and the three-hour refresher for renewing notaries who meet all three of its conditions — each under its own certificate of approval. That approval covers those two courses of study and nothing else. It is not an endorsement or recommendation of the courses, of notrai or of this website, and nothing on this page is legal advice.

Both courses are online and self-paced, and each issues a Proof of Completion certificate to a student who completes it. Neither is the two-hour course of study section 8231.3 describes.

See the courses →