Recently, I communicated extensively with a family who is trying to have a Police Clearance letter notarized for their son who is teaching English in a foreign country. Some police departments have policies that do not allow their employees to show their driver’s licenses for identification. They only allow their employees to use their employer issued identification cards. The California Secretary of State, the governing body for notary public’s in California, has specific policies too for identifying a person who is notarized. In other words, the Secretary of State is the boss for notary publics. The penalty fee for improperly identifying a person is $10,000 (Civil Code 1189(a)(2)). This penalty was passed in 2008 due to mortgage fraud that occurred in the years previously.

An employee identification card issued by an agency or office of the State of California, or an agency or office of a city or county in California can be used as identification ONLY if it includes the following items:

1. Photo
2. Physical description
3. Identification number
4. Issue date and/or expiration date
5. Signature of the person (not anyone else)

These are specific requirements issued by the Secretary of State of California. They are non-negotiable. If you give $10,000 to the notary public, maybe the notary public will be willing to notarize your document. That will cover their penalty (Civil Code 1189(a)(2)). It won’t cover the negative mark from it on their record for the violation.

If you would like to learn more about these matters, you can review the 2010 Notary Public Handbook.

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