§1364.1. Filing Methods

A.(1) The secretary of state may accept any filing authorized in Chapter 10-A of this Title by electronic, online, or facsimile transmission. All online filings authorized pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall include an electronic signature.

(2) "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

(3) "Online" means through the secretary of state's commercial online computer system.

B. Filing by facsimile. Printed documents transmitted through the process of an electronic method to the secretary of state are deemed to be properly signed when the document received by a facsimile machine or document image attachment in email by the commercial division, office of the secretary of state, purports to be a copy of the original document and contains the signatures required in this Section.

C.(1) Online filing. The secretary of state is authorized to implement and establish procedures and systems for secure online form filing for the filing of any instrument required to be filed with the secretary of state pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter.

(2) Any provision that requires an instrument filed pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter to be subscribed or acknowledged before a notary public may be dispensed with if the instrument is filed and signed electronically as provided in Paragraph (A)(2) of this Section by a person authorized to sign the instrument.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section, any filing filed by an individual from a parish with a population of one hundred thousand or less according to the latest federal decennial census may be filed by facsimile transmission or mail.

D. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section, any filing authorized by Chapter 10-A of this Title that the secretary of state has the capability to accept online shall only be filed online.

Acts 2016, No. 554, §3, eff. Jan. 1, 2018.