---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act providing for virtual notarization to address challenges related to COVID-19"
description: "Senate, April 21, 2020– Text of the Senate Bill providing for virtual notarization to address challenges related to COVID-19 (being the text of Senate, No. 2542, printed as amended)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ma"
legislature: "Massachusetts General Court"
session: "191st"
identifier: "S 2645"
citation: "Massachusetts S 2645 (191st)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2020-04-21"
last_action: "2020-04-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/288bdb2a-eea8-47d9-87ee-bb7931ec4061"
source_url: "https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/S2645"
source_hash: "1abe642e400ec1dafac2d79a1c6629921fdd0cdb28cc85fed347ac5178537fcc"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ma"]
---

# Massachusetts S 2645 (191st) — An Act providing for virtual notarization to address challenges related to COVID-19

Senate, April 21, 2020– Text of the Senate Bill providing for virtual notarization to address challenges related to COVID-19 (being the text of Senate, No. 2542, printed as amended)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/S2645.pdf)

## Sponsors

- Senate Committee on Ways and Means — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-04-21** Text of S2642, printed as amended
- **2020-04-21** Passed to be engrossed `passage`
- **2020-04-21** Read; and referred to the committee on House Ways and Means `referral-committee`
- **2020-04-23** Committee recommended ought to pass with an amendment, striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the text contained in House document numbered 4668 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-04-23** Rules suspended
- **2020-04-23** Read second, amended (as recommended by the committee on House Ways and Means) and ordered to a third reading `reading-2`
- **2020-04-23** Rules suspended
- **2020-04-23** Read third and passed to be engrossed `reading-3`
- **2020-04-23** Rules suspended
- **2020-04-23** Senate concurred in the House amendment
- **2020-04-23** Emergency preamble adopted
- **2020-04-23** Emergency preamble adopted
- **2020-04-23** Enacted `passage`
- **2020-04-23** Enacted and laid before the Governor `passage`
- **2020-04-23** Signed by the Governor, Chapter 71 of the Acts of 2020 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/288bdb2a-eea8-47d9-87ee-bb7931ec4061`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Massachusetts legislature records).