SPIRO T. AGNEW, Governor                        917

CHAPTER 490
(Senate Bill 18)

AN ACT to repeal Section 1 of Article 68 of the Annotated Code of
Maryland (1967 Supplement), title "Notaries Public," and to en-
act a new Section 1 in lieu thereof, to stand in the place of the
section so repealed AND TO REPEAL SECTIONS 1A, 1B, AND 2;
and to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 7 of the said
Article of the Code; to revise the procedure for appointing and
qualifying notaries public in this State, to change the qualifications
for appointment, to change the method of renewing notarial com-
missions, to authorize the removal of notaries for good cause, and
to correct errors in the law applicable to notaries public.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 1 of Article 68 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1967 Supplement), title "Notaries Public," be and it is hereby re-
pealed and that a new Section 1 be and it is hereby enacted in lieu
thereof, to stand in the place of the section so repealed AND TO
REPEAL SECTIONS 1A, 1B AND 2; that Section 7 of the said
Article of the Code be and its is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments, and all to read as follows:

1.

(a)    The Governor shall appoint and commission in his discretion
and judgment any number of persons as notaries public as provided
herein. Notaries shall be appointed from the General Assembly sena-
torial districts into which the State may be divided from time to time
and in which the notary resides, and, if any district has been divided
into subdistricts, then from the subdistrict in which the notary
resides COUNTY IN WHICH THE APPLICANT RESIDES.

(b)    The appointments are made by the Governor for a term of
two years from the first day of July in the year 1969 and in every
second year thereafter.

(c) (1) Applications for appointment as a notary public shall be
obtained from AND APPROVED IN WRITING BY any State Sena-
tor elected from REPRESENTING the senatorial district or AND
subdistrict in which the applicant resides. Each application shall
be under oath, shall be approved by the signature of the State Senator
and shall contain the following information:

(i) That the applicant is at least 18 years of age;

(ii) That he is a citizen of the United States, has resided in this
State for a period of two years prior to his appointment as a notary,
and that he resides in the senatorial district or AND subdistrict from
which he seeks appointment OF THE SENATOR APPROVING THE
APPOINTMENT;

(in) That he is a person of good moral character and integrity
and has not been convicted of any offense involving moral turpitude
FOR WHICH A PARDON HAS NOT BEEN GRANTED.

In addition, each application shall contain the signatures AND
ADDRESSES of two persons who reside in the State of Maryland
who shall state that the applicant is of good moral character and