(a) The Mayor of the District of Columbia shall have power to appoint such number of notaries public, residents of said District, or whose sole place of business or employment is located within said District, as, in his discretion, the business of the District may require: Provided, that the appointment of any person as such notary public, or the acceptance of his commission as such, or the performance of the duties thereunder, shall not disqualify or prevent such person from representing clients before any of the departments of the United States government in the District of Columbia or elsewhere: Provided further, that such person so appointed as a notary public who appears to practice or represent clients before any such department is not otherwise engaged in government employ, and shall be admitted by the heads of such departments to practice therein in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed for other persons or attorneys who are admitted to practice therein: And provided further, that no notary public shall be authorized to take acknowledgments, administer oaths, certify papers, or perform any official acts in connection with matters in which he is employed as counsel, attorney, or agent, or in which he may be in any way interested before any of the departments aforesaid.
(b) Each notary public before obtaining his commission, and for each renewal thereof, shall pay to the Director of the Department of Finance and Revenue of the District of Columbia a license fee of $30: Provided, that no license fee shall be collected from any notary public in the service of the United States government or the District of Columbia government whose notarial duties are confined solely to government official business: And provided further, that no notary fee shall be collected at any time by a notary public who is exempted from the payment of the license fee. The Mayor is hereby authorized to refund, in the manner prescribed by law for the refunding of erroneously paid taxes, the amount of any fee erroneously paid or collected under this section. All proceeds collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the unrestricted fund balance of the General Fund of the District of Columbia.
(c) The Mayor, pursuant to subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2, may issue rules to carry out the provisions of this section and §§ 1-1202 to 1-1215, including rules to establish and amend fees.
CREDIT(S)
(Mar. 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 1279, ch. 854, § 558; June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 622, ch. 3616; Feb. 10, 1925, 43 Stat. 821, ch. 198; Dec. 16, 1944, 58 Stat. 810, ch. 597, § 1; June 22, 1983, D.C. Law 5-14, § 304, 30 DCR 2632; Sept. 24, 2010, D.C. Law 18-223, § 1072, 57 DCR 6242; Sept. 14, 2011, D.C. Law 19-21, § 9020(b), 58 DCR 6226.)
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 1-801.
1973 Ed., § 1-501.
Effect of Amendments
D.C. Law 18-223 rewrote subsec. (c), which had read as follows:
“(c) The Council of the District of Columbia shall issue rules necessary to carry out the provisions of §§ 1-1201 to 1-1215: Except, that the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall amend by rule from time to time the amount of any fee established pursuant to §§ 1-1201 to 1-1215.”
D.C. Law 19-21, in subsec. (b), inserted “All proceeds collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the unrestricted fund balance of the General Fund of the District of Columbia.”
Emergency Act Amendments
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 1072 of Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2010 (D.C. Act 18-463, July 2, 2010, 57 DCR 6542).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 8003 of Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2012 (D.C. Act 19-383, June 19, 2012, 59 DCR 7764).
For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 8003 of Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2012 (D.C. Act 19-413, July 25, 2012, 59 DCR 9290).
Legislative History of Laws
Law 5-14 was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 5-74, which was referred to the Committee on Finance and Revenue. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on April 12, 1983 and April 26, 1983, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on May 4, 1983, it was assigned Act No. 5-29 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review.
For Law 18-223, see notes following § 1-301.78.
For history of Law 19-21, see notes under § 1-301.01.
References in Text
Pursuant to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer's “Notice of Public Interest” published in the April 18, 1997, issue of the District of Columbia Register (44 DCR 2345) the Office of Tax and Revenue assumed all of the duties and functions previously performed by the Department of Finance and Revenue, as set forth in Commissioner's Order 69-96, dated March 7, 1969. This action was made effective January 22, 1997, nunc pro tunc.
Change in Government
This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 402(20) of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to the District of Columbia Council, subject to the right of the Commissioner as provided in § 406 of the Plan. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 (D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act (D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.
Miscellaneous Notes
Office of Collector of Taxes abolished: The Office of the Collector of Taxes was abolished and the functions thereof transferred to the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia by Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1952. All functions of the Office of the Collector of Taxes including the functions of all officers, employees and subordinate agencies were transferred to the Director, Department of General Administration by Reorganization Order No. 3, dated August 28, 1952. Reorganization Order No. 20, dated November 10, 1952, transferred the functions of the Collector of Taxes to the Finance Office. The same Order provided for the Office of the Collector of Taxes headed by a Collector in the Finance Office, and abolished the previously existing Office of the Collector of Taxes. Reorganization Order No. 20 was superseded and replaced by Organization Order No. 121, dated December 12, 1957, which provided that the Finance Office (consisting of the Office of the Finance Officer, Property Tax Division, Revenue Division, Treasury Division, Accounting Division, and Data Processing Division) would continue under the direction and control of the Director of General Administration, and that the Treasury Division would perform the function of collecting revenues of the District of Columbia and depositing the same with the Treasurer of the United States. Organization Order No. 121 was revoked by Organization Order No. 3, dated December 13, 1967, Part IVC of which prescribed the functions of the Finance Office within a newly established Department of General Administration. The executive functions of the Board of Commissioners were transferred to the Commissioner of the District of Columbia by § 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967. Functions of the Finance Office as stated in Part IVC of Organization Order No. 3 were transferred to the Director of the Department of Finance and Revenue by Commissioner's Order No. 69-96, dated March 7, 1969. The collection functions of the Director of the Department of Finance and Revenue were transferred to the District of Columbia Treasurer by § 47-316 on March 5, 1981.
Inapplicability to matters before Department of Interior: Section 3 of The Act of June 3, 1948, 62 Stat. 301, ch. 392, provided that the last proviso of subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to matters before the Department of the Interior.
New implementing regulations: Section 302 of D.C. Law 5-14 also amended the Notaries Public Regulation (Reg. 73-13; 25 DCRR 3).
Mayor authorized to issue rules: Section 1102 of D.C. Law 5-14 provided that the Mayor shall issue rules necessary to carry out the provisions of the act.
Short title: Section 1071 of D.C. Law 18-223 provided that subtitle H of title I of the act may be cited as the “Notaries Public Authentications and License Fee Amendment Act of 2010”.