Committee approves allowing engineers, surveyors and notaries to record scrivener's affidavits

The House Judiciary Committee on a voice vote approved House Bill 14‑79, which would amend state recording law to allow licensed engineers, land surveyors and notary publics to execute and record scrivener's affidavits.

Representative Les Warren, state representative for District 84, told the committee a scrivener's affidavit is "a legal document that corrects errors in a previously written document," and said the bill would let professionals commonly involved in land records — "a licensed engineer or surveyor" or a notary public — file an affidavit to correct a basic drafting mistake without going through an attorney or title company.

The bill's sponsor said the change is aimed at routine corrections to recorded instruments such as a typographic direction on a plat (for example, an engineer using "north" instead of "south") and that allowing additional, listed professionals to record the affidavits will streamline corrections to chain‑of‑title and other recorded documents.

There were no public comments for or against the measure recorded in the committee. Representative Warren closed by saying, "I would appreciate a good vote on this." The committee chair called the voice vote; committee members responded "ayes" and the bill passed out of committee.

The bill does not specify the exact Arkansas Code section in the committee explanation provided in the transcript; the committee record shows the measure passed by voice vote and did not include roll‑call counts in the transcript.

If enacted, the change would add to the list of people who may record scrivener's affidavits at the county recorder's office; currently the sponsor said attorneys and title companies are the primary filers. The transcript did not include statutory citations, a fiscal note, or implementation details beyond the textual change described by the sponsor.