(a) A public entity, including the state, a county, city, or other political subdivision, or any officer or employee thereof, including notaries public, shall not demand or receive any fee or compensation for doing any of the following:

(1) Recording, indexing, or issuing certified copies of any discharge, certificate of service, certificate of satisfactory service, notice of separation, or report of separation of any member of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(2) Furnishing a certified copy of, or searching for, any public record that is to be used in an application or claim for a pension, allotment, allowance, compensation, insurance (including automatic insurance), or any other benefits under any act of Congress for service in the Armed Forces of the United States or under any law of this state relating to veterans’ benefits.

(3) Furnishing a certified copy of, or searching for, any public record that is required by the Veterans Administration to be used in determining the eligibility of any person to participate in benefits made available by the Veterans Administration.

(4) Rendering any other service in connection with an application or claim referred to in paragraph (2) or (3).

(b) A certified copy of any record referred to in subdivision (a) may be made available only to one of the following:

(1) The person who is the subject of the record upon presentation of proper photo identification.

(2) A family member or legal representative of the person who is the subject of the record upon presentation of proper photo identification and certification of their relationship to the subject of the record.

(3) A state, county, or city office that provides veterans’ benefits services upon written request of that office.

(4) A United States official upon written request of that official. A public officer or employee is liable on his or her official bond for failure or refusal to render the services.

(c) (1) If the county recorder receives a written, faxed, or digitized image of a request for a certified copy of any discharge, certificate of service, certificate of satisfactory service, notice of separation, or report of separation of any member of the Armed Forces of the United States referred to in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) that is accompanied by a notarized statement sworn under penalty of perjury, or a faxed copy or digitized image of a notarized statement sworn under penalty of perjury, that the requester meets one of the descriptions in subdivision (b), the county recorder may furnish a certified copy to the requester pursuant to this section.

(2) A faxed or digitized image of the notarized statement accompanying a faxed or digitized image of a request received pursuant to this subdivision for a certified copy of any discharge, certificate of service, certificate of satisfactory service, notice of separation, or report of separation of any member of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be legible. If the notary’s seal is not photographically reproducible, or does not show the name of the notary, the county of the notary’s principal place of business, the notary’s telephone number, the notary’s registration number, and the notary’s commission expiration date typed or printed in a manner that is photographically reproducible below, or immediately adjacent to, the notary’s signature in the acknowledgment, the county recorder shall not provide the certified copy. If a request for a certified copy of any discharge, certificate of service, certificate of satisfactory service, notice of separation, or report of separation of any member of the Armed Forces of the United States is made in person, the official shall take a statement sworn under penalty of perjury that the requester is signing his or her own legal name and is an authorized person pursuant to subdivision (b), and that official may then furnish a certified copy to the applicant.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “digitized image” of a request means an image of an original paper request for a certified copy of any discharge, certificate of service, certificate of satisfactory service, notice of separation, or report of separation of any member of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 366, Sec. 3. (SB 974) Effective January 1, 2017.)