Pennsylvania Governor Signs RON Legislation

October 27, 2020

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly passed legislation on Oct. 21 that authorizes the use of remote online notarization.

House Bill 2370 awaits the signature of Gov. Tom Wolf. The Pennsylvania Land Title Association (PLTA) supported the bill and sent a letter encouraging the governor to sign. Pennsylvania becomes the 29th state to pass RON legislation.

"PLTA has championed RON legislation that contains appropriate safeguards protecting the title industry and consumers since the very first RON bill was introduced back in 2017," said Lisa McEntee CLTP, president of the PLTA.  "We are thrilled that the governor has signed HB 2370, and thank our members for their involvement at the grassroots level to get this done. In our centennial year, PLTA supports this leap toward modernization of the closing process."

The legislation is based on the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA) as well as the ALTA-MBA model RON bill. The legislation allows for a notary in Pennsylvania to perform a notarial act facilitated by communication technology if several requirements are met.

The notary must:

  • have personal knowledge of the identity of the individual;
  • have satisfactory evidence of the identify of the remotely located individual by oath or affirmation by a credible witness appearing before the notary; or
  • can reasonably identify the individual by at least two different types of identity proofing processes or services.

The notary must also be able to reasonably identify a record as the same record in which the remotely located individual made the statement or on which the remotely located individual executed the signature.

Additionally, the notary must create an audio-visual recording of the notarial act, including all interactions between the notary and the remotely located individual. A recording of the audio-visual must be retained by a repository designated by or on behalf of the notary for 10 years.

There are additional requirements if the remotely located individual is located outside the United States.

The legislation goes into effect immediately.

Gov. Wolf had signed a bill in April that temporarily permitted notaries in the state to conduct RON transactions starting April 20.


Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or [email protected].