We do not believe that the requirement for Illinois notaries to maintain a journal for all notarial acts will become effective on January 1, 2022.

The new requirement that notaries public maintain “a journal of each notarial act or electronic notarial act which includes, without limitation, the requirements set by the Secretary of State in administrative rule” established in Public Act 102-160 takes effect on the later of January 1, 2022, or the date on which the Secretary of State adopts rules necessary to implement the Act. As of this writing (December 22, 2021), the Secretary of State has not adopted rules to implement this requirement. While it is possible that such rules could be adopted on or before January 1, 2022, it is unlikely at this late date.

We will continue to monitor for the adoption of implementing rules — please be sure that you are receiving our Compliance Connection® weekly newsletter (which we automatically send to anyone who has established a free GoToIBA.com account) and that you check the Daily Coffee at GoToIBA.com, where we will be sure to post news about the Secretary of State’s implementing administrative rules. Additionally, we will update our Notaries Public topic page with links to the administrative rules when available.

Also note that the Illinois Notary Public Act currently requires notaries to maintain records of each notarial act “involving a document of conveyance that transfers or purports to transfer title to residential real property located in Cook County.” However, this requirement does not apply outside of the context of Cook County residential real property transfers.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Illinois Notary Public Act, 5 ILCS 312/3-107(a), Delayed Effective Date (“A notary public or an electronic notary public shall keep a journal of each notarial act or electronic notarial act which includes, without limitation, the requirements set by the Secretary of State in administrative rule, but shall not include any electronic signatures of the person for whom an electronic notarial act was performed or any witnesses.”)

• Illinois Notary Public Act, 5 ILCS 312/3-107(b), Delayed Effective Date (“The Secretary of State shall adopt administrative rules that set forth, at a minimum: (1) the information to be recorded for each notarization or electronic notarization; (2) the period during which the notary public or electronic notary public must maintain the journal; and (3) the minimum security requirements for protecting the information in the journal and access to the contents of the journal.”)

• Public Act 102-160, Section 99 (“This Act takes effect on the later of: (1) January 1, 2022; or (2) the date on which the Office of the Secretary of State files with the Index Department of the Office of the Secretary of State a notice that the Office of the Secretary of State has adopted the rules necessary to implement this Act. . . .”)

• Illinois Notary Public Act, 5 ILCS 312/3-102(a) (“This Section shall apply to every notarial act in Illinois involving a document of conveyance that transfers or purports to transfer title to residential real property located in Cook County.”)

• Illinois Notary Public Act, 5 ILCS 312/3-102(c) (“A notary appointed and commissioned as a notary in Illinois shall, in addition to compliance with other provisions of this Act, create a Notarial Record of each notarial act performed in connection with a Document of Conveyance. The Notarial Record shall contain: . . . .”)