Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 571: Rescinding Executive Order No. 455

Date: 10/06/2016
Issuer: Governor Charlie Baker
Mass Register: No. 1324
Rescinding: Executive Order No. 455

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, our Constitution provides that notaries public shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council;

WHEREAS, on May 14, 2004, Governor Mitt Romney issued Executive Order No. 455, which provided much needed guidance to notaries public as to the nature and scope of their duties;

WHEREAS, on October 6, 2016, I signed into law Chapter 289 of the Acts of 2016, An Act Regulating Notaries Public to Protect Consumers and the Validity and Effectiveness of Recorded Instruments, a law which goes into effect on January 4, 2017;

WHEREAS, this law incorporates and expands upon the guidance set forth in Executive Order No. 455 and preserves the full discretion of the Governor in nominating and appointing notaries public and the Executive Council in giving its advice and consent to those nominations; and

WHEREAS, requiring notaries public to perform their duties subject to both a statute and an Executive Order is unnecessary and may lead to confusion and inconvenience to notaries public and the communities they serve;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution, Part 2, c. 2, § 1, Art. 1, do hereby order as follows:

Executive Order No. 455 is rescinded, effective January 4, 2017.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 6 day of October in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen and of the Independence of the United States of America two hundred forty-one.

Contact   for No. 571: Rescinding Executive Order No. 455

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