The Difference Between "And" and "Or"

By Brianna Schroeder, Janzen Schroeder Agricultural Law LLC

In a rare “immediately effective” law change, HEA 1056 changed the recording law to allow for either an acknowledgment or a proof by disinterested witness. The law was effective on Feb. 18, 2021. This change impacts general document recording requirements, specifically environmental restrictive covenants (ERCs) and certificates of completion (COCs). 

The new bill was necessary because last summer, SEA 340 changed the recording law from (i) either acknowledged by a notary or proved by a disinterested witness to (ii) acknowledged by a notary AND proved by a disinterested witness. This burdensome requirement created unintentional headaches for parties filing ERCs with county recording offices. Now that HEA 1056 has been signed into law, parties will once again only need one of those items (notary OR witness) rather than both. Just another example of the big difference a little conjunction can make.

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