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type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags
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| Bill | Notarization, filing, & recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent. | Notarization, filing, and recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent; acknowledgement and satisfactory evidence of identity; requirements for commission or recommission of notary; clerk of circuit court to establish property alert notification system. Removes personal knowledge of identity from the methods by which a notary public, electronic notary public, or other person authorized by law to perform a notarial act may identify an individual for purposes of performing a notarial act such as acknowledgement or affirmation. Under current law, the identity of an individual for such purpose may be established if such individual is personally known to the person performing the notarial act or by a presentation of satisfactory evidence of identity, as defined by law. The bill also adds a requirement that, within the six months immediately preceding the submission of his application, a person applying for commission to be a notary public or electronic notary public, or an existing notary public or electronic notary public applying for recommission, complete a course of instruction developed and approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The bill specifies that one hour of such course of instruction shall be on the topic of real estate fraud and financial exploitation of elderly persons and shall include training on current trends on such topics and on recognizing instances of such fraud or financial exploitation. The bill directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth to develop the curricula for such courses of instruction by January 1, 2027, and has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027, for those provisions related to the requirement that applicants for commission and recommission complete and present proof of completion of such courses of instruction. The bill also requires any clerk of a circuit court that has established a network or system of electronic filing of land records to also establish a property alert notification system for owners of real property within the circuit court's jurisdiction. The bill provides that an owner who enrolls his real property into such property alert notification system may do so at no cost and that such system shall send notifications to such owner when documents affecting or purporting to affect the enrolled property are filed with the clerk's office. The provisions related to the establishment of the property alert notification system have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. Finally, the bill requires notaries public to keep a record of all notarial acts occurring on or after July 1, 2026, and to include in such record the form of satisfactory evidence of identification used to verify the identity of the principal and credible witnesses. Similarly, the bill requires settlement agents responsible for recording deeds, deeds of trust, or other documents relating to land records to obtain satisfactory evidence of identity of a seller of real property prior to settlement. This bill is identical to SB 316. | us/states/va | Virginia General Assembly | 2026 | HB 163 | Virginia HB 163 (2026) |
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enacted |
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5 | 32 | 7 | 2026-01-06 | 2026-04-08 | openstates | ocd-bill/566c3de8-0479-4dff-bd47-d608ece5f337 | https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB163 | 2b5e6959643493dc56cb8768907f541aa0b0cd44707cc3fff939da2dadd4ba4b | 2026-07-01 | https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump | 2026-07-06 | reported |
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Virginia HB 163 (2026) — Notarization, filing, & recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent.
Notarization, filing, and recordation of certain land records; duties of notary or settlement agent; acknowledgement and satisfactory evidence of identity; requirements for commission or recommission of notary; clerk of circuit court to establish property alert notification system. Removes personal knowledge of identity from the methods by which a notary public, electronic notary public, or other person authorized by law to perform a notarial act may identify an individual for purposes of performing a notarial act such as acknowledgement or affirmation. Under current law, the identity of an individual for such purpose may be established if such individual is personally known to the person performing the notarial act or by a presentation of satisfactory evidence of identity, as defined by law. The bill also adds a requirement that, within the six months immediately preceding the submission of his application, a person applying for commission to be a notary public or electronic notary public, or an existing notary public or electronic notary public applying for recommission, complete a course of instruction developed and approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The bill specifies that one hour of such course of instruction shall be on the topic of real estate fraud and financial exploitation of elderly persons and shall include training on current trends on such topics and on recognizing instances of such fraud or financial exploitation. The bill directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth to develop the curricula for such courses of instruction by January 1, 2027, and has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027, for those provisions related to the requirement that applicants for commission and recommission complete and present proof of completion of such courses of instruction. The bill also requires any clerk of a circuit court that has established a network or system of electronic filing of land records to also establish a property alert notification system for owners of real property within the circuit court's jurisdiction. The bill provides that an owner who enrolls his real property into such property alert notification system may do so at no cost and that such system shall send notifications to such owner when documents affecting or purporting to affect the enrolled property are filed with the clerk's office. The provisions related to the establishment of the property alert notification system have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. Finally, the bill requires notaries public to keep a record of all notarial acts occurring on or after July 1, 2026, and to include in such record the form of satisfactory evidence of identification used to verify the identity of the principal and credible witnesses. Similarly, the bill requires settlement agents responsible for recording deeds, deeds of trust, or other documents relating to land records to obtain satisfactory evidence of identity of a seller of real property prior to settlement. This bill is identical to SB 316.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
- Introduced (filed) — source
- Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
- Civil Subcommittee Substitute (committee substitute) — source
- Courts of Justice Substitute (committee substitute) — source
- Enrolled (enrolled) — source
Votes
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations — 15–0 (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — 10–0 (pass) · lower
- Passage R — 37–0 (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — 19–0 (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — 98–0 (pass) · lower
- Reported from Courts of Justice — 14–0 (pass) · upper
Sponsors
- Marcus B. Simon — primary (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- 2026-01-06 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104586D
filing, introduction - 2026-01-06 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
referral-committee - 2026-01-19 Assigned HCJ sub: Civil
referral-committee - 2026-01-21 House subcommittee offered
- 2026-01-21 Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (10-Y 0-N)
substitution - 2026-01-28 Committee substitute printed 26105742D-H1
substitution - 2026-01-28 Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N)
committee-passage - 2026-01-28 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163)
- 2026-01-30 Read first time
reading-1 - 2026-02-02 Read second time
reading-2 - 2026-02-02 committee substitute agreed to
substitution - 2026-02-02 Engrossed by House - committee substitute
substitution - 2026-02-03 Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A)
passage, reading-3 - 2026-02-04 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- 2026-02-04 Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
referral-committee - 2026-02-06 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163)
- 2026-02-18 Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)
committee-passage - 2026-02-25 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N)
committee-passage - 2026-02-26 Rules suspended
- 2026-02-26 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- 2026-02-26 Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- 2026-02-27 Read third time
reading-3 - 2026-02-27 Passed Senate (37-Y 0-N 0-A)
passage - 2026-03-04 Enrolled
enrolled - 2026-03-04 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB163ER)
passage - 2026-03-04 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB163)
- 2026-03-04 Signed by Speaker
passage - 2026-03-04 Signed by President
passage - 2026-03-10 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026
enrolled, executive-receipt - 2026-03-10 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026
executive-receipt - 2026-04-08 Approved by Governor-Chapter364 (Effective - see bill)
executive-signature - 2026-04-08 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0364)
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/566c3de8-0479-4dff-bd47-d608ece5f337. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).