Nevada Assembly Bill 72 Notary Changes

What AB 72 Changes for Nevada Notaries

Assembly Bill 72, signed into law during the 2025 legislative session with remaining sections effective January 1, 2026, introduces four significant changes to Nevada's notary framework under NRS Chapter 240. If you hold a commission or are in the process of applying, these rules apply to you now.

The Code of Professional Responsibility

AB 72 authorizes the Secretary of State to adopt and enforce a formal Code of Professional Responsibility for all commissioned notaries in Nevada. Before this bill, disciplinary action was limited to specific statutory violations spelled out in NRS 240. Now, the Secretary of State can establish broader conduct standards and directly suspend or revoke a commission for willful violations or neglect of those standards.

In practice, this means the state can hold you accountable for professional conduct failures that don't neatly fit into existing statutory categories — like consistently sloppy journal entries or failure to maintain proper control over your seal.

The Statutory Right of Refusal

AB 72 codifies a notary's right to refuse to perform a notarial act under specific circumstances. You may refuse service if you're not satisfied that the signer is competent — defined as appearing to have the mental capacity to understand the nature and consequences of the act — or if you believe the signature is not being made knowingly and voluntarily.

This was already informal best practice, but having it in statute matters. Before AB 72, a notary who refused service could face complaints from frustrated clients with no clear legal backing for the refusal. Now the statute explicitly protects your judgment call.

The threshold is reasonable: you don't need to be a medical professional assessing capacity. If the signer appears confused about what they're signing, seems coerced, or does not appear to have the mental capacity to understand the nature and consequences of the act, you have statutory authority to decline.

RON Physical Location Enforcement

AB 72 reinforces that an electronic notary public must be physically located within the State of Nevada during any remote online notarization session. The signer can be anywhere in the world, but you — the notary — must be in Nevada when the audio-video session takes place.

AB 72 clarifies and strictly enforces this requirement. If you're performing RON sessions while traveling out of state, you're in violation regardless of whether your commission is Nevada-issued.

Document Preparation Service Bond Scaling

AB 72 also introduces scaled bonding requirements for document preparation services registered under NRS Chapter 240A. This doesn't directly affect notaries, but it matters if you're considering registering as both a notary and a document preparation service — the bond requirements for 240A registration are substantially higher (up to $50,000 depending on the number of business entities) and separate from your $10,000 notary bond.

What This Means for Your Commission

If you're a working notary, AB 72 strengthens your position: you have clearer authority to refuse questionable signings, and the professional conduct framework creates a more level playing field by holding all notaries to the same standards. If you're applying for the first time, the rules you're learning now already reflect the AB 72 changes.

The Nevada notary commissioning guide covers the full 2026 regulatory landscape including AB 72 provisions, so your process checklist is current from day one.

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