Colorado commissions its notaries under the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA), C.R.S. § 24-21-501 et seq., administered by the Colorado Secretary of State. The qualification gate is a statutory package: an applicant who does not hold a Colorado commission must pass an examination administered by the Secretary of State or an approved entity, based on a course of study covering the laws, rules, procedures, and ethics relevant to notarial acts (C.R.S. § 24-21-522), and the current Notary Program Rules put both halves inside one window — no more than 90 days before applying, a new applicant must successfully complete training and pass the exam administered by the Secretary of State; no more than 90 days before renewing, a notary must do the same on renewal training (8 CCR 1505-11, Rules 2.1.3–2.1.4). The examination is the Secretary of State’s own online, open-book test: it should take about 30 minutes, notes and the Official Notary Handbook may be used, and its content is the applicant’s understanding of notary duties in RULONA, Title 38, Article 30 (Titles and Interests), Title 1, Article 40 (Initiative and Referendum), and the Official Notary Handbook (Rule 2.1.7). No numerical passing score is published in the official sources, and this guide prints none. The commission runs four years, and renewal repeats the training-and-examination package.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
What this guide covers
This guide works the Colorado gate the way the official sources build it. It explains who commissions Colorado notaries and under what law; reads RULONA section by section at the points the training and examination test; sets out the Notary Program Rules that run the package — the 90-day window in its three forms, the credit rule, the certificate rules, the approved-vendor curriculum, the fee-itemization rule, and the journal rule; describes the examination exactly as the Secretary of State publishes it, including what the official sources do not publish; walks the route from qualification to the four-year term and its renewal; and treats electronic and remote notarization at the boundary where the law places them, as separate approvals on an Active commission. The companion Colorado Notary Public Exam Preparation page presents the program PassProfessor is building for this gate.
Who commissions, and under what law
A notary public is an individual commissioned to perform a notarial act by the Secretary of State — the definition at C.R.S. § 24-21-502(8), and the office’s foundation: the commission is a public appointment from the State, not a credential an employer or a vendor confers. The Secretary of State’s Notary Program is the administering authority, and its published materials state the office’s character: a notary serves the public as a neutral witness — a verifier, an authenticator, an impartial agent for the state, a public recorder of acts, an unbiased, official witness — and, in the Handbook’s framing, a notary performing a notarization is responsible not to a customer or supervisor but to the people of the State of Colorado through the Secretary of State. The governing law is the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, Title 24, Article 21, Part 5, C.R.S., enacted by Senate Bill 17-132 and effective July 1, 2018, which repealed the former Notaries Public Act (Title 12, Article 55) and rebuilt Colorado notary law on the uniform act — the training and examination requirement dates from that change, and the Secretary of State’s FAQs state that since July 1, 2018, all new and renewing notaries must attend training and take the online exam. The Secretary of State’s Notary Program Rules at 8 CCR 1505-11 supply the operating detail the statute leaves to rulemaking: the application and renewal windows, training credit, certificate forms, vendor approval and curriculum, fee itemization, journal possession, electronic notarization approval, and remote notarization. The Official Notary Handbook, published by the Secretary of State (current edition read for this guide: revised April 24, 2024), is the Department’s plain-language guide to best practices based on RULONA, with its own ordering rule printed inside: “In no event should this Handbook be used as a substitute for the statute. Any incongruity between this Handbook and the statute will be decided in favor of the statute.” The Handbook is also one of the examination’s four named sources — it is simultaneously the candidate’s study text and part of the syllabus.
RULONA, section by section
Definitions and the acts — § 24-21-502
The definitions section carries the vocabulary every later section uses: communication technology, electronic, electronic notarization system, identity-proofing and credential analysis, journal, notarial act, notarial officer, notary public, official stamp, record, remote presentation, remotely located individual, signature, and stamping device. The notarial act list at § 24-21-502(6) is the office’s charter: taking an acknowledgment; administering an oath or affirmation; taking a deposition or other sworn testimony; taking a verification on oath or affirmation; witnessing or attesting a signature; certifying a copy; and noting a protest of a negotiable instrument. One item on that list is fenced: a protest may be noted only by a notary who is an employee of a financial institution acting in the course and scope of that employment (§ 24-21-505(5)(b)) — a general-commission notary does not hold that power.
Disqualifying interest — § 24-21-504
A notarial officer shall not perform a notarial act with respect to a record in which the officer has a disqualifying interest, and an act performed in violation of the section is voidable. A disqualifying interest arises where the officer, or the officer’s spouse, partner in a civil union, ancestor, descendant, or sibling, is a party to or is named in the record; or where the officer, or the officer’s spouse or civil union partner, may receive, directly and as a proximate result of the notarization, any advantage, right, title, interest, cash, or property, except a fee properly received under RULONA or another provision of law. The rule is relational and financial at once: kinship to a party disqualifies, and so does a benefit beyond the fee.
The determinations, act by act — § 24-21-505
For an acknowledgment, the officer must determine, from personal knowledge or satisfactory evidence of identity, that the individual appearing has the identity claimed and signed the record — in a representative capacity, that the individual signed with proper authority and signed the record in that capacity; for a verification, that the individual has the identity claimed and signed the statement or record; for witnessing or attesting a signature, that the individual has the identity claimed and either signed at the time of notarization in the officer’s presence or signed previously and acknowledged signing the record to the officer. Copy certification has its own determination — the officer determines that the copy is a full, true, and accurate transcription or reproduction of the record or item — and two statutory bars: a notary shall not certify a copy of a record that can be obtained from a clerk and recorder of public documents, the Secretary of State, the Colorado State Archives, or an office of vital records, nor a copy of a record that states on its face that it is illegal to copy the record. The Handbook’s checklists work these determinations act by act, and the examination tests them in that form.
Personal appearance and identification — §§ 24-21-506, 24-21-507
If a notarial act relates to a statement made in, or a signature executed on, a record, the individual making the statement or executing the signature shall appear personally before the notarial officer (§ 24-21-506). Identity may rest on personal knowledge — the individual is personally known to the officer through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty that the individual has the identity claimed — or on satisfactory evidence, which the statute defines in two forms: identification by a passport, driver’s license, or government-issued nondriver identification card that is current or expired not more than one year before performance of the notarial act, or by any other form of government identification issued to an individual that is current or expired not more than one year before performance of the act, contains the signature or a photograph of the face of the individual, and is satisfactory to the officer; or the verification on oath or affirmation of a credible witness personally appearing before the officer and known to the officer or identified by the officer through the first form’s documents. The officer may require additional information or identification credentials from the individual. Colorado’s one-year expiry allowance is a fixed, examinable figure — shorter than the multi-year allowances some states publish — and the credible-witness route is worked in the Handbook’s Appendix B, with a sample credible witness statement.
Refusal and signature by direction — §§ 24-21-508, 24-21-509
A notarial officer may refuse to perform a notarial act if the officer is not satisfied that the individual executing the record is competent or has the capacity to execute it, or that the individual’s signature is knowingly and voluntarily made; and, unless refusal is prohibited by a law other than RULONA, an officer may refuse to perform a notarial act for any reason (a general-refusal clause the Handbook works through its refusal guidance). Where an individual is physically unable to sign a record, the individual may direct another individual — other than the notarial officer or a person identified as a credible witness — to sign on their behalf, and the officer shall insert “Signature affixed by [name of other individual] at the direction of [name of individual]” (or words of similar import prescribed by the Secretary of State) on or near the individual’s signature. Signals and mechanical means of communication that indicate a deletion, a clarification, or a desire to end a communication are read by the Handbook as requests for help or refusal — the officer stops.
The certificate and its short forms — §§ 24-21-515, 24-21-516
A certificate of a notarial act is sufficient if it meets the section’s requirements and is in one of the statutory short forms, in another form permitted by Colorado law, in the form prescribed by the law of the jurisdiction in which the act is performed, or sets forth the actions of the notarial officer constituting the act and those actions are sufficient under Colorado law or the law of the jurisdiction of performance. Three execution rules follow: by executing a certificate, the officer certifies that the officer has made the determinations the act required; the officer shall not sign the notarial certificate until the notarial act has been performed; and for a tangible record, the certificate must be part of, or securely and indelibly attached to, the record, and for an electronic record, affixed to or logically associated with it. The five short forms at § 24-21-516 — acknowledgment in an individual capacity, acknowledgment in a representative capacity, verification on oath or affirmation, witnessing or attesting a signature, and certifying a copy of a record — share one architecture: the place and date of the act, the words “This record was acknowledged before me” (or the act’s equivalent), the individual’s name, and the officer’s signature, official stamp, title of office, and “My commission expires” date line. The Handbook’s certificate section adds the working warnings: the certificate wording must match the act performed, the certificate is not signed before the act is done, and the stamp is applied under or near the official signature on every certificate.
The official stamp and the stamping device — §§ 24-21-517, 24-21-518
The stamp specifications are exact and closed. The official stamp must be rectangular; it must be capable of being copied together with the record to which it is affixed; and it may contain only the outline of the seal and, printed within the outline: the notary’s name, exactly as it appears on the notary’s certificate of commission; the notary’s identification number; the notary’s commission expiration date; the words “STATE OF COLORADO”; and the words “NOTARY PUBLIC”. A notary shall not provide, keep, or use a seal embosser in performing a notarial act. The Secretary of State does not supply the stamp or the journal — the notary obtains them after approval, and the Seals FAQ states that the stamp must be clearly applied under or near the official signature on every notary certificate. The stamping device rules protect the instrument: the notary is responsible for the security of the stamping device and shall not allow another individual to use it; on resignation, revocation, or expiration of the commission, the notary shall disable the device so that it is unusable as a stamping device; and on discovery that a device has been lost or stolen, the notary shall promptly notify the Secretary of State in writing, not later than thirty days after discovery.
The journal — § 24-21-519 and Rule 4
The journal section is RULONA’s longest operating rule, and it is mandatory in form: a notary public shall maintain a journal in which the notary chronicles all notarial acts performed, and shall retain the journal for ten years after the performance of the last notarial act chronicled in it. A tangible journal is a permanent, bound register with numbered pages; an electronic journal is in a permanent, tamper-evident electronic format complying with the Secretary of State’s rules. An entry for each act is made contemporaneously with the performance of the act and contains: the date and time of the act; a description of the record, if any, and the type of act; the full legal name and address of each individual for whom the act is performed; the signature or electronic signature of each such individual; a statement if the individual’s identity is based on personal knowledge; if identity is based on satisfactory evidence, a brief description of the method of identification and the type of credential presented, if any; and the fee, if any, charged by the notary. Control and access are regulated as carefully as content: the journal is maintained in a secure area under the notary’s exclusive control, and no other person does anything to compromise that control; the Secretary of State may audit or inspect the journal without restriction, and the notary shall surrender it upon written request; a certified peace officer acting within the scope of an official investigation may inspect it without restriction; and upon written request from a person that identifies the individuals for whom the act was performed, identifies the type of record, and specifies the month and year of the act, the notary may supply a certified copy of the line item. Loss or theft is reported to the Secretary of State in writing within thirty days of discovery. At the end of service, a resigning, revoked, or expired notary retains the journal and informs the Secretary of State where it is located, or transmits it to the Colorado State Archives, or leaves it with the firm or employer by which the notary was employed, in the regular course of business and with the written notice the statute prescribes (the journal rule at 8 CCR 1505-11, Rule 4, works the employer-possession mechanics, including the electronic copy to the Secretary of State); on the death or adjudged incompetency of a notary, the journal is transmitted to the State Archives and the Secretary of State is notified. The statute’s one alternative to a journal stands at § 24-21-519(10)(c) as the Secretary of State cites it: where the notary’s firm or employer files the record of the notarial act in the regular course of business, and the firm’s or employer’s document retention system contains all the information the journal requires and retains it for ten years, that system may serve in place of a journal — and the Secretary of State’s FAQ, stating that alternative as the journal rule’s only exception, still recommends the journal as best practice.
Electronic records and electronic notarization — § 24-21-520 and Rule 2.2
RULONA authorizes a notary to perform a notarial act with respect to an electronic record, selecting one or more tamper-evident technologies to perform notarial acts with respect to electronic records. Before performing the first such act, the notary shall notify the Secretary of State that the notary will be performing acts with respect to electronic records and shall identify the technology the notary intends to use; the rules convert that notification into an approval gate — a notary must submit a notice of intent to perform electronic notarizations and receive the Secretary of State’s approval before electronically notarizing (Rule 2.2) — and notification of any new technology is required in the same way. The notary’s electronic signature consists of the notary’s name (in the form it appears on the certificate of commission), the notary’s identification number, the words “NOTARY PUBLIC” and “STATE OF COLORADO,” a Document Authentication Number (DAN), and the words “MY COMMISSION EXPIRES” followed by the expiration date; the notary generates a different DAN for each act and is responsible for the security and integrity of the DAN, the electronic signature, and the technology. Electronic notarization is performed with the signer physically present. It is a separate approval on top of the commission, and this guide treats it as such.
Qualifications, the affirmation, and the term — § 24-21-521
The Secretary of State shall issue a commission to an applicant who meets the qualifications and complies with the application rule. The qualifications: at least 18 years of age; a citizen or permanent legal resident of the United States or otherwise lawfully present in the United States — the Secretary of State verifies, as part of the application, that the applicant is lawfully present; a resident of Colorado or having a place of employment or practice in Colorado; able to read and write English; not disqualified under § 24-21-523; and having passed the examination required under § 24-21-522(1). Before issuance, the applicant shall take an affirmation in the presence of a person qualified to administer an affirmation in this state, solemnly affirming under penalty of perjury in the second degree that the applicant has carefully read the notary law of this state and, if appointed and commissioned, will faithfully perform, to the best of ability, all notarial acts in conformance with the law. The term of a commission is four years from the date the applicant is approved by the Secretary of State. And the commission’s limit is stated in the same section: the notary shall not be entitled to immunity or a benefit conferred by law on a public official or employee by reason of the commission.
The examination statute — § 24-21-522
The examination requirement is two sentences of architecture. First, the test: an applicant for a commission who does not hold a commission in this state shall pass an examination administered by the Secretary of State or by an entity approved by the Secretary of State, based on the course of study described in the second sentence. Second, the course: the Secretary of State or an approved entity shall offer, on a regular basis, a course of study designed to ensure that an applicant for a commission has knowledge of the laws, rules, procedures, and ethics relevant to notarial acts, and the Secretary of State may enter into an agreement with private contractors to facilitate the training provisions — contractors may charge a fee for the training program. Everything else in the package hangs off those two sentences: the qualifications section incorporates the examination by reference, the rules set its window and its content, and the Secretary of State delivers the test itself, free, through its eLearning system. There is no test-center sitting in this structure, and no third-party testing company: the examination is the Secretary of State’s, the training may be the Secretary of State’s own or an approved vendor’s, and the certificates from both halves converge in one online application.
Denial, discipline, and the prohibited acts — §§ 24-21-523, 24-21-525
The discipline section lists eleven grounds on which the Secretary of State may deny an application, refuse to renew, revoke, suspend, or impose conditions on a commission: failure to comply with any provision of RULONA; a substantial or material misstatement or omission in the application; conviction of a felony or, in the last five years, of a misdemeanor involving dishonesty; a finding or admission of fraud, dishonesty, or deceit by an administrative, arbitral, or court proceeding in this or another state; failure to discharge any duty required of a notary, whether by RULONA, the rules, or an order of the Secretary of State; false or misleading advertising regarding the authority of a notary to perform acts the notary is not authorized to perform; any violation of the Secretary of State’s notary rules; denial, refusal to renew, revocation, suspension, or imposition of conditions on the applicant’s or notary’s commission in another state; a court finding of the unauthorized practice of law by a notary acting under a commission issued in another state; commission of an act in violation of a suspension or condition imposed by the Secretary of State; and performing a notarial act while not currently commissioned. The Secretary of State may investigate on a signed written complaint, must give timely notice and an opportunity for hearing under the State Administrative Procedure Act, may instead issue a nondisciplinary action such as a letter of admonition where the conduct does not warrant a proceeding, and maintains a public database of disciplinary actions. A person whose commission has been revoked may not apply for or receive a commission. The rules add one more consequence inside the package itself: the Secretary of State may require a notary who has committed misconduct meriting disciplinary action to retake and successfully complete the training and exam (Rule 2.1.6). The prohibited-acts section, § 24-21-525, draws the office’s outer boundary: a commission does not authorize assisting persons in drafting legal records, giving legal advice, or otherwise practicing law; acting as an immigration consultant or expert on immigration matters or representing a person in an immigration proceeding; or receiving compensation for any of those. A notary shall not engage in false or deceptive advertising, and a notary other than an attorney licensed to practice law in Colorado shall not use the term “notario” or “notario publico” nor advertise in any manner whatsoever that the notary is an immigration specialist or consultant; a non-attorney notary shall include, in any advertisement of notarial services in each language used, the prescribed statement: “I am not an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Colorado and I may not give legal advice about immigration or other legal matters or accept fees for legal advice,” and shall not use terms in any other language that imply the notary is an attorney licensed to practice law in Colorado. A notary shall not withhold access to or possession of an original record provided by a person seeking performance of a notarial act; and shall not perform any notarial act with respect to a record that is blank or contains unfilled blanks in its text, except where another provision of Colorado law provides otherwise.
The remaining frame — §§ 24-21-524, 24-21-526, 24-21-529 as administered, 24-21-530
The Secretary of State maintains an electronic database of notaries public through which a person may verify the authority of a notary to perform notarial acts and verify whether a notary has notified the Secretary of State of intent to perform acts with respect to electronic records (§ 24-21-524). Notarial acts performed in Colorado under RULONA are not invalid for a failure the statute excuses — an act is not invalid because the officer signed in a manner inconsistent with the signature rules where the signature reasonably identifies the officer, or because the officer failed to state the expiration date on the record (§ 24-21-526). The notary’s charges are administered today at the Secretary of State’s published maxima — $15 per document, including receiving evidence of the signer’s identity, administering an oath or affirmation if applicable, and applying the signature, certificate, and stamp, and $25 for an electronic notarization or a remote notarization, with other services itemized separately (General FAQs) — and the current rules enforce the disclosure mechanics: a notary who charges must inform the customer of the charges before performing the act and provide a written document listing the specific fee or fees charged, which may be a closing statement, itemized invoice, receipt, transaction summary, or similar document; failure to provide that itemization carries the rule’s presumption that the amount charged exceeded the fee limit in § 24-21-529; and the itemization rules do not apply to a notary who is an employee of a title company performing acts as part of title insurance or closing and settlement services (Rule 2.4). Finally, the change filings: a notary shall notify the Secretary of State within thirty days after the notary’s name, business address, or residential address changes, and a notification of name change must include a specimen of the handwritten official signature (§ 24-21-530); the Secretary of State’s FAQs apply the same thirty-day discipline to changes of official signature and of telephone number, and the Secretary of State’s General FAQs state the law’s resignation duty: a notary is required to resign the commission if the notary no longer lives or works in Colorado, or no longer wishes to serve as a notary public.
The Notary Program Rules in working form — 8 CCR 1505-11
The statute builds the package; the rules run it, and four rule clusters do most of the work a candidate feels.
The window and the credit rule (Rules 2.1.1–2.1.7). The application must be submitted in the applicant’s legal name, as it appears on the applicant’s government-issued picture identification (Rule 2.1.1), and all notary filings are submitted via the Secretary of State’s online electronic filing system (Rule 2.1.2). Rule 2.1.3 states the new-applicant window: “No more than 90 days before applying for a commission, a new applicant must successfully complete training and pass the exam administered by the Secretary of State.” Rule 2.1.4 states the renewal window in the same form, on renewal training. Rule 2.1.5 is the credit boundary: successful completion of a notary training course is credited only to applicants who completed a course offered by an approved vendor, an approved course provider, or the Secretary of State. Rule 2.1.6 reserves the misconduct retake. Rule 2.1.7 names the examination and its content: “The Secretary of State’s open book examination will test the applicant’s understanding of notary duties contained in: (a) Title 24, Article 21, Part 5, C.R.S. (RULONA); (b) Title 38, Article 30, C.R.S. (Titles and Interests); (c) Title 1, Article 40, C.R.S. (Initiative and Referendum); (d) The Official Notary Handbook published by the Secretary of State.” The rules define the cast: an approved course of instruction is a training course approved by the Secretary of State; an approved vendor is an entity approved to offer a course for a fee; an approved course provider is an approved entity that offers an approved course to its employees or members without charge. A “new applicant” includes an individual who has been commissioned in the past whose commission expired more than 30 days ago — while the Secretary of State’s FAQs direct an expired-commission holder to file a renewal rather than a new application; both statements are printed here as their sources make them.
The certificate rules (Rules 3.3.1–3.3.3). The Secretary of State validates an approved course provider’s certificate of completion; for an approved vendor’s certificate to be accepted, it must verify that the student successfully completed an approved course of instruction. A certificate of successful completion of an approved course of instruction expires 90 days from the date of issuance (Rule 3.3.2), and the certificate itself must include: a description of the course completed; the date of successful completion; the vendor or course provider logo, if applicable; and the statement that the certificate is valid for a period of 90 days from the date of issuance (Rule 3.3.3). The Secretary of State’s application checklist applies the same discipline to both certificates at filing: the training certificate must be from a state-approved trainer, issued within the last 90 days, and the exam certificate must be issued by the Secretary of State’s office within the last 90 days.
The vendor curriculum (Rule 3.2.1). A vendor’s course of instruction must be based on the RULONA curriculum the rule lists: physical presence requirements; the duty not to notarize a blank document; the duty to use a notarial certificate; disqualifying interest; application procedures; resignation requirements; the duty to maintain a journal of notarial acts; revocation proceedings; liability; identification of signers; the role of the notary; and official misconduct — and must also address widely accepted best practices, including but not limited to notarizations for the elderly. The curriculum list is the closest thing Colorado publishes to a course outline, and it matches the Handbook’s organization closely enough that the two can be studied as one syllabus.
The journal rule (Rule 4). Rule 4 works the journal’s end-of-commission mechanics: a notary who leaves a journal in the possession of a firm or employer must provide an electronic form of the journal to the Secretary of State within thirty days after expiration, resignation, or revocation, and provide a copy to the firm or employer as well; if the notary resigns, the notary must inform the Secretary of State of the location of the journal or deposit it with the Office of the Colorado State Archives — the rule’s own channel for the statute’s options.
The examination, exactly as published
The Secretary of State’s Notary Public Examination page is short, and it is the whole official description of the sitting. The test is the State of Colorado online notary exam. It tests the candidate’s familiarity with Colorado Notary Law and the procedures and guidelines covered in the required training. It should take about 30 minutes to complete. And it is an “open book” test: notes and the Handbook may be used during the test. Delivery is through the Secretary of State’s eLearning portal: create or use an account, select the “Colorado Notary Public Examination – RULONA” under Notary Training, launch the test, and, after passing, print the certificate from the completion page — the certificate is the artifact the application accepts, and the Secretary of State’s checklist is explicit that applicants must not attach printouts of the exam questions in its place. The examination is free through the Secretary of State’s system.
What the official sources do not publish is equally definite, and this guide states it rather than filling it in: no numerical passing score appears in RULONA, the Notary Program Rules, the examination page, the Secretary of State’s FAQs, or the Notary Handbook; no question count appears in those sources; and no attempt limit or retake waiting period appears in them. Candidates will encounter confident figures for all three in unofficial material; those figures are not the Secretary of State’s published standard, one approved vendor’s own study page concedes that the Secretary of State does not publish a specific passing score, and unofficial figures in circulation contradict each other on their face. The published position is the one a filing is judged by: complete approved training, pass the Secretary of State’s examination, hold both certificates within the 90-day window, and apply.
The open-book form deserves a precise reading, because it is the examination’s defining feature and the one candidates most often misjudge. Open book means the Handbook and the candidate’s notes may be open beside the test; it does not mean the test is unpassable or untimed in practice. The examination tests whether the candidate can apply RULONA to described acts — which determination an acknowledgment requires, which record a copy certification may not touch, which entry a journal must carry, which interest disqualifies — and the Secretary of State’s own guidance puts the sitting at about 30 minutes. A candidate who must learn the Handbook’s organization during the sitting spends that time searching; a candidate who already knows where each rule lives spends it answering. Preparation for this examination is therefore preparation for retrieval and application: command of the Handbook’s structure, the statute’s fixed figures (the one-year identification window, the ten-year journal retention, the thirty-day clocks, the 90-day window itself), and the act-by-act checklists.
The training, exactly as structured
There are two ways to get the training certificate, in the Secretary of State’s own framing on its Notary Public Training page: take the free training classes offered by the Secretary of State, or purchase training from an approved vendor. The Secretary of State’s online training runs through its eLearning system — account required, certificate printed from the portal on completion — and the Secretary of State’s training and examination are both free. The approved-vendor route is a published list, maintained with approval numbers and course formats: the Secretary of State states that it will only accept training certificates from vendors on that list, and that it does not endorse or recommend any approved vendor. The statute explains the vendor structure: the Secretary of State may contract with private contractors to facilitate the training provisions, and contractors may charge a fee for the training program (C.R.S. § 24-21-522(2)). Neither the statute nor the rules nor the Secretary of State’s pages state a required number of training hours for Colorado, and this guide prints none; what is regulated is the curriculum (Rule 3.2.1), the provider’s approval, the certificate’s contents, and the certificate’s 90-day life. One structural point candidates miss: the examination is the Secretary of State’s regardless of where the training was taken. Vendor training ends with the vendor’s training certificate; the examination certificate is issued by the Secretary of State’s office, through the State’s own eLearning test — the checklist’s phrase is “issued by our office” — so the package joins at the application, not at the vendor’s classroom.
The route, in order
Qualify. Eighteen or older; citizen, permanent legal resident, or otherwise lawfully present (verified by the Secretary of State); resident of Colorado or with a place of employment or practice in Colorado; able to read and write English; not disqualified under § 24-21-523 — the Applying and Renewing FAQs name the conviction grounds: never convicted of a felony, no misdemeanor involving dishonesty in the past five years (the rules define the phrase: fraud, dishonesty, bribery, perjury, larceny, theft, robbery, extortion, forgery, counterfeiting, embezzlement, misappropriation), and never having had a notary commission revoked — and having passed the § 24-21-522(1) examination. No attorney exemption from the training or the examination appears in the statute, the rules, or the Secretary of State’s pages: the examination qualification is written for an applicant, and RULONA’s attorney references are confined to the “notario” and advertising provisions at § 24-21-525(3)–(4).
Train and test, inside 90 days. Complete approved training (Secretary of State eLearning, free; or an approved vendor) and pass the Secretary of State’s open-book online examination, both no more than 90 days before applying, holding the training certificate (valid 90 days from issuance, Rule 3.3.2) and the Secretary of State’s exam certificate.
Affirm. Take the § 24-21-521(5) affirmation before a person qualified to administer an affirmation in Colorado — in practice, on the Secretary of State’s form, signed in front of a notary: no blank spaces, the name exactly as on the identification, the notarizing notary using “Notary public” as their title. Read the current notary law first; the affirmation swears that the applicant has.
Apply. File online in the Secretary of State’s system with the notarized affirmation, both sides of acceptable identification, the training certificate, the exam certificate, and for a non-citizen both sides of the permanent resident card or visa; pay the $10.00 Colorado application fee by credit or debit card. Processing guidance: within three to five business days; approval by email with the notary ID; a rejected application must be corrected and approved within 90 days of payment or the applicant starts over and pays again. The FAQs’ common rejection reasons are filing failures: name mismatch with the identification, identification not current, exam questions attached instead of the certificate, blanks on the affirmation, the wrong affirmation (the remote notary affirmation is a different form), a non-compliant stamp on the affirmation, the wrong notary title.
Serve the term. Four years from approval. Start notarizing only when the approval email arrives; print the commission certificate; obtain the official stamp (rectangular, the five statutory contents and nothing else) and a journal; keep the thirty-day change filings current (name, business or residential address, official signature — with a specimen signature on a name change — and telephone); and work within the certificate, identification, journal, refusal, prohibition, and fee rules the training tested.
Renew on the package, not around it. Renewal opens up to 90 days before expiration; no more than 90 days before renewing, complete the renewal training and pass the examination again (Rule 2.1.4); file the renewal online with a fresh notarized affirmation, identification, training certificate, and exam certificate; pay the $10.00 renewal fee. An expired commission is renewed the same way — the Secretary of State’s direction is explicit: file a renewal, and do not apply as a new notary if you have been a notary in Colorado before.
The two layers above the commission — boundary only
Electronic notarization and remote notarization are not part of the initial gate, and this guide treats them only to mark the boundary. Electronic notarization concerns electronic records with the signer physically present: before the first electronic act, the notary notifies the Secretary of State, identifies the tamper-evident technology, and — under Rule 2.2 — must receive approval on a notice of intent before electronically notarizing; each act uses a Document Authentication Number as part of the notary’s electronic signature. Remote notarization is a registration on an Active commission: only a currently commissioned Colorado notary with Active status may register; the notary must first take the Secretary of State’s separate remote notary training and exam; notarizations run through a Secretary of State–approved remote notarization system provider, by real-time audio-video communication, with the notary located in Colorado; the session recording and consent disclosures are retained ten years; electoral-process records may not be remotely notarized, and wills may not be remotely notarized except under the Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act; the remote journal is a tamper-evident electronic journal recording the provider’s name; and the remote notary application carries a $10.00 Colorado fee on the Secretary of State’s fee schedule. Neither layer changes the initial package: approved training, the Secretary of State’s examination, the affirmation, and the application.
Fees, in their three places
Colorado publishes its notary money in three places, and the guide keeps them separate because candidates conflate them. The State’s commissioning charges (Secretary of State Notary Public Fee Schedule): notary public application $10.00 online; renewal $10.00; remote notary application $10.00; change of record free; duplicate certificate free; the Secretary of State’s training and examination are free, and a vendor’s training carries the provider’s own charge under the statute. The notary’s charges to the public (Secretary of State General FAQs, administered under § 24-21-529 and Rule 2.4): maximum $15 per document for a notarization, including receiving evidence of the signer’s identity, administering an oath or affirmation if applicable, and applying the signature, certificate, and stamp; maximum $25 for an electronic notarization or a remote notarization; other services itemized separately, with the Rule 2.4 pre-act disclosure and written itemization duties. Protection, not a charge: no bond is required in Colorado — “A notary does not have to be bonded in Colorado” (General FAQs) — and a bond or errors and omissions insurance is an option a notary may consider, not a condition of the commission.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Colorado examination a test-center exam?
No. The examination is administered by the Secretary of State through its own online eLearning system — the “Colorado Notary Public Examination – RULONA” — and the certificate is printed from the completion page. The statute allows the Secretary of State or an approved entity to administer the examination, and the Secretary of State’s delivery is its own online test; the training half, by contrast, may be taken from the Secretary of State free or from an approved vendor. No test-center sitting is part of the published structure.
How long do I have between completing training and applying?
Ninety days. Rule 2.1.3 requires a new applicant to complete training and pass the examination no more than 90 days before applying; the training certificate itself expires 90 days from the date of issuance (Rule 3.3.2) and must state that it is valid for 90 days from issuance; and the Secretary of State’s checklist requires both the training certificate and the exam certificate to have been issued within the last 90 days at filing. A six-month window appears in superseded versions of the Notary Program Rules and is not the current rule.
What is the passing score? How many questions are there? Can I retake it?
The official sources publish none of those figures. RULONA, the Notary Program Rules, the Secretary of State’s examination page and FAQs, and the Notary Handbook state no numerical passing score, no question count, and no attempt limit for this requirement, and this guide prints none. Unofficial figures in circulation contradict one another — including one item whose own arithmetic does not reconcile — and one approved vendor’s study page states plainly that the Secretary of State does not publish a specific passing score. What governs a filing is the published structure: approved training, a pass on the Secretary of State’s examination, and both certificates inside the 90-day window.
Is the test timed?
No time limit is published in the official sources. The Secretary of State’s examination page states that the test should take about 30 minutes to complete — guidance about the sitting’s expected length, printed here in that form.
What does the examination cover?
By rule, the applicant’s understanding of notary duties contained in RULONA (Title 24, Article 21, Part 5, C.R.S.), Title 38, Article 30 (Titles and Interests), Title 1, Article 40 (Initiative and Referendum), and the Official Notary Handbook (8 CCR 1505-11, Rule 2.1.7) — based, by statute, on the course of study covering the laws, rules, procedures, and ethics relevant to notarial acts (C.R.S. § 24-21-522). No topic weights are published.
Does the examination have to come from a vendor’s course, or can I use the Secretary of State’s own training?
Either. Credit is granted only for courses offered by an approved vendor, an approved course provider, or the Secretary of State (Rule 2.1.5). The Secretary of State’s online training and examination are free; vendor training is the provider’s product at the provider’s charge, and the Secretary of State accepts certificates only from vendors on its published approved list. The examination itself is the Secretary of State’s in both routes.
How many hours of training does Colorado require?
No number of training hours is stated in the statute, the Notary Program Rules, or the Secretary of State’s pages read for this guide, and none is printed here. What Colorado regulates is the curriculum an approved course must be based on (Rule 3.2.1), the provider’s approval, and the certificate’s contents and 90-day validity.
Do renewing notaries really have to take the training and the exam again?
Yes. Since July 1, 2018, all new and renewing notaries must attend training and take the online exam (Secretary of State, Applying and Renewing FAQs), and Rule 2.1.4 requires renewal training and a pass on the exam no more than 90 days before renewing. Renewal may be filed up to 90 days before the commission expires, at the $10.00 renewal fee, with a fresh notarized affirmation and fresh certificates.
My commission already expired. Do I apply as a new notary?
The Secretary of State’s direction is explicit: file a renewal — “Do not apply as a new notary if you have been a notary in Colorado before” — with the same fresh training and examination certificates, at the same fee as a new commission. (The rules’ definition of “new applicant” includes a formerly commissioned notary whose commission expired more than 30 days earlier, Rule 1.9; the FAQs’ filing direction is the route the Secretary of State instructs, and both are stated here as their sources state them.)
What identification may a signer use?
A passport, driver’s license, or government-issued nondriver identification card that is current or expired not more than one year before the act; or another form of government identification, current or expired not more than one year, containing the individual’s signature or a photograph of the individual’s face and satisfactory to the officer; or verification on oath or affirmation by a credible witness personally appearing before the officer and known to or identified by the officer (C.R.S. § 24-21-507). Personal knowledge through dealings sufficient to provide reasonable certainty is the other basis, and an officer may require additional information or credentials.
When may a notary refuse?
When not satisfied that the individual executing the record is competent or has the capacity to execute it, or that the individual’s signature is knowingly and voluntarily made — and, unless refusal is prohibited by a law other than RULONA, for any reason (C.R.S. § 24-21-508). The Handbook also treats signals requesting help or indicating refusal during an act performed by direction as a stop.
What goes in the journal, and how long is it kept?
Seven contents, entered contemporaneously for every act: date and time; a description of the record and the type of act; the full legal name and address of each individual; each individual’s signature or electronic signature; a statement if identity rests on personal knowledge; if identity rests on satisfactory evidence, the identification method and credential type; and the fee, if any. The journal is retained ten years after the last act chronicled in it (C.R.S. § 24-21-519).
Is PassProfessor’s program the state-required training?
No. PassProfessor is not a Secretary of State–approved notary training vendor or course provider, is not affiliated with the Colorado Secretary of State, and its program is preparation only: it does not satisfy Colorado’s training requirement, is not reported to the Secretary of State, and confers no commission. The state-required training is taken from the Secretary of State or an approved vendor, and the examination is the Secretary of State’s.