Arizona Enacts Laws Providing for Legal Recognition of Certain Electronic Signatures and Other Records

Fintech Digital Assets State Issues Distributed Ledger Electronic Signatures Blockchain

Last month, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed into law two pieces of legislation (S.B. 1084 and S.B. 1078), which formally grant legal recognition of electronic records and signatures under state law. Specifically, the new laws—each of which were passed unanimously by both houses of the Arizona legislature—formally acknowledge the legality of certain electronic records and signatures for the purpose of “satisfy[ing] any law that requires a record to be in writing or to be retained or both.” S.B. 1084 further details the requirements that must be satisfied when creating, sending, and accepting electronic signatures or records in order to qualify for legal recognition under the new law. As previously reported in InfoBytes, Arizona also recently enacted H.B. 2417, which recognized blockchain signatures and smart contracts under state law.