§ 32-3-102 — Definitions

(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Acknowledgment" means a declaration by a
principal before a notarial officer that the principal has
knowingly and willingly signed a record for the purposes stated
in the record and, if the record is signed in a representative
capacity, that the principal signed the record with proper
authority, signed it as the act of the principal or entity
identified in the record and acknowledges that the record was
executed and acknowledged knowingly and willingly;
(ii) "Affirmation" means a notarial act, or part
thereof, which is legally equivalent to an oath and in which a
person at a single time and place:
(A) Is identified by the notarial officer
through satisfactory evidence; and
(B) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on
penalty of perjury, based on personal honor and without invoking
a deity or using any form of the word "swear".
(iii) "Appearing before," "in the presence of,"
"personal appearance" and "personally appear" mean being in the
same physical location as another person and close enough to
see, hear, communicate with and exchange identification
credentials with that person or interacting with another
remotely located person by means of an electronic notarization
system or other form of communication technology in compliance
with this act;
(iv) "Commission" means both to empower to perform
notarial acts and the written evidence of authority to perform
those acts;
(v) "Communication technology" means an electronic
device or process that:
(A) Allows a notarial officer and a remotely
located person to communicate with each other simultaneously by
sight and sound; and
(B) When necessary and consistent with other
applicable law, facilitates communication with a remotely
located person who has a vision, hearing or speech impairment.
(vi) "Credential analysis" means a process or service
through which a third person affirms the validity of a
government issued identification credential through review of
public and proprietary data sources;
(vii) "Credible witness" means an honest, reliable
and impartial person who personally knows a principal appearing
before a notarial officer and takes an oath or affirmation from
the notarial officer to vouch for that principal's identity;
(viii) "Dynamic knowledge based authentication
assessment" means an identity assessment that is based on a set
of questions formulated from public or private data sources that
does not contain a question for which the principal provided a
prior answer to the entity doing the assessment;
(ix) "Electronic" means relating to technology having
electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical,
electromagnetic or similar capabilities;
(x) "Electronic notarization system" is a specific
form of communication technology which utilizes a set of
applications, programs, hardware, software or technologies
designed to enable a notarial officer to perform electronic
notarizations that renders every electronic notarial act tamper
evident through the use of a security procedure, verifies the
identity of a remotely located person through identity proofing
or a dynamic knowledge based authentication assessment and that
meets the necessary requirements as determined by the secretary
of state;
(xi) "Electronic record" means a record containing
information that is created, generated, sent, communicated,
received or stored by electronic means;
(xii) "Electronic signature" means an electronic
symbol, sound or process attached to or logically associated
with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the
intent to sign the record;
(xiii) "Foreign state" means a jurisdiction other
than the United States, a state in the United States or a
federally recognized Indian tribe;
(xiv) "Identification credential" means a passport,
driver's license or other form of identification issued by a
federal, state or tribal government agency, which is current or
expired not more than three (3) years before performance of the
notarial act, and is satisfactory to the notarial officer as
evidencing a person's identity;
(xv) "Identity proofing" means a process or service,
if required by an electronic notarization system or other form
of communication technology, by which a third person provides a
notarial officer with a means to verify the identity of a
remotely located person by:
(A) A review of personal information from public
or private data sources; or
(B) Biometric data including but not limited to
facial recognition, voice analysis or fingerprint analysis.
(xvi) "In a representative capacity" means acting as:
(A) An authorized officer, agent, partner,
trustee or other representative for a person other than the
principal;
(B) A public officer, personal representative,
guardian or other representative in the capacity stated in a
record;
(C) An agent or attorney-in-fact for a
principal; or
(D) An authorized representative of another in
any other capacity.
(xvii) "Jurisdiction" means the authority of a state,
foreign or domestic, or a federally recognized Indian tribe;
(xviii) "Notarial act" means an act, whether
performed with respect to a tangible or electronic record, that
a notarial officer may perform under the law of this state. The
term includes taking an acknowledgment, administering an oath or
affirmation, taking a verification on oath or affirmation, or
jurat, witnessing or attesting a signature, certifying or
attesting a copy and noting a protest of a negotiable
instrument;
(xix) "Notarial officer" means a notary public or
other person authorized to perform a notarial act;
(xx) "Notary public" means a person commissioned to
perform a notarial act by the secretary of state;
(xxi) "Oath" means a notarial act, or part thereof,
which is legally equivalent to an affirmation and in which a
person at a single time and place:
(A) Is identified by the notarial officer
through satisfactory evidence; and
(B) Makes a vow of truthfulness or fidelity on
penalty of perjury while invoking a deity or using any form of
the word "swear".
(xxii) "Official stamp or seal" means a physical
image affixed to a tangible record, or an electronic image
attached to or logically associated with an electronic record,
containing information required by this act;
(xxiii) "Outside the United States" means a location
outside the geographic boundaries of the United States, Puerto
Rico or the United States Virgin Islands and any territory,
insular possession or other location subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States;
(xxiv) "Person" means an individual, corporation,
business trust, statutory trust, estate, trust, partnership,
limited liability company, association, joint venture, public
corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency,
instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity;
(xxv) "Personal knowledge of identity," "personally
known to the notarial officer" and "personally knows" mean
familiarity with a person resulting from interactions with that
person over a period of time or any other corroboration
sufficient to dispel any reasonable uncertainty that the person
has the identity claimed;
(xxvi) "Principal" means:
(A) A person whose signature is notarized; or
(B) A person, other than a credible witness,
taking an oath or affirmation from the notarial officer.
(xxvii) "Record" means information that is inscribed
on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other
medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
(xxviii) "Remote ink notarization" means the notarial
act of an acknowledgment performed by means of an electronic
notarization system or other form of communication technology
on a tangible record that meets the standards adopted in this
act;
(xxix) "Remote online notarization" means a notarial
act or notarization performed by means of an electronic
notarization system or other form of communication technology on
an electronic record that meets the standards adopted under this
act;
(xxx) "Remotely located person" means a person who is
not in the physical presence of a notarial officer;
(xxxi) "Satisfactory evidence", when referring to
proof of identity, means meeting the requirements of both
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph as applicable:
(A) Identifying a person appearing before a
notarial officer by means of:
(I) The notarial officer's personal
knowledge of identity;
(II) Inspection by the notarial officer of
an identification credential in accordance with W.S. 32-3-
102(xiv); or
(III) By a verification on oath or
affirmation of a credible witness personally appearing before
the officer and known to the officer or whom the officer can
identify upon inspection of an identification credential in
accordance with W.S. 32-3-102(xiv).
(B) If appearing by means of an electronic
notarization system or other form of communication technology, a
principal or credible witness may be required to prove
satisfactory evidence on the basis of two (2) or more different
types of technologies, processes or services, such as dynamic
knowledge based authentication assessment, valid public key
certificate, identity proofing, credential analysis or other
means required by the electronic notarization system or other
form of communication technology being used, or as may be
prescribed in rule by the secretary of state.
(xxxii) "Sign" means, with present intent to
authenticate or adopt a record:
(A) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(B) To attach to or logically associate with the
record an electronic symbol, sound or process.
(xxxiii) "Signature" means a tangible symbol or an
electronic signature that evidences the signing of a record;
(xxxiv) "Signature witnessing" or "signature
attestation" means a notarial act in which a notarial officer
witnesses a principal execute a record knowingly and willingly
for the purposes intended while appearing before the notarial
officer;
(xxxv) "Sole control" or "sole possession" means at
all times being in the direct physical custody of a notarial
officer or safeguarded by a notarial officer with a password or
other secure means of authentication or access;
(xxxvi) "Stamping device" means:
(A) A physical device capable of affixing to a
tangible record an official stamp; or
(B) An electronic device or process capable of
attaching an official stamp to, or logically associating an
official stamp with, an electronic record.
(xxxvii) "State" means a state of the United States,
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin
Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States;
(xxxviii) "Venue" means the geographical location in
which a notarial act or notarization takes place;
(xxxix) "Verification on oath or affirmation", or
"jurat" means a declaration, made by a principal on oath or
affirmation before a notarial officer, that a statement in a
record is true and that the record has been signed knowingly and
willingly before the notarial officer for the purposes intended;
(xl) "This act" means W.S. 32-3-101 through 32-3-131.