SIGN THE PETITION: We Need to Talk About What's Really Going On
VIEW THE REPORT------------> Click here! SIGN THE PETITION---------> Click here! Fellow Notaries, I'm writing this post not as President of NJNA, but as one notary to another. And I need to be direct with you about something that's been weighing on me for months. You've come to know me through my activism and the collosal amount of work it took to create NJNA. You know I've been doing this for over twenty years. You know I don't sound alarms lightly. So please hear me when I say this: THE STATE IS FAILING US. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, THEY'RE FAILING THE PUBLIC. WHAT I'VE FOUND: Over the past several months, I've been digging into how the state implemented the 2021 notary law, the one that promised six hours of education and a meaningful exam. Here's what I found: THE EDUCATION: The state's primary educational offering is a series of online videos. I timed them. All of them. 45 minutes and 7 seconds. That's it. That's what the State of New Jersey provides to satisfy a six hour mandate. We get 12.5 percent of what we were promised. And what's in those 45 minutes? Statutory definitions. Lists of requirements. Words read aloud from a screen. There's no practical instruction. No how to guidance. No scripts. No instruction on handling difficult situations. THE EXAM: The law requires an examination "to determine the fitness" of applicants. That's the actual language. What did the state implement? An open book test. Online. No proctoring. No identity verification. No lockdown browser. And here's the part that kept me up at night: the full exam questions and answers are publicly available online. Anyone can find them. Anyone can pass without knowing a thing. An applicant could: - Watch none of the videos - Read none of the manual - Find the answers online - Pass the exam - Receive a commission - Perform notarizations on real documents