As Amended by House Committee
Session of 2000
HOUSE BILL No. 2879
By Joint Committee on Information Technology
2-7
11 AN ACT
concerning electric electronic signatures;
enacting the Kansas
12 electronic signatures
act; repealing K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 60-2616.
13
14 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the
State of Kansas:
15 Section
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Kansas
16 electronic signatures act.
17 Sec. 2. The
provisions of this act shall be construed to enable the
18 development of electronic government and
electronic commerce for the
19 benefit of the state of Kansas and its
citizens, businesses and industries
20 and to:
21 (a) Facilitate
electronic communications by means of reliable elec-
22 tronic records;
23 (b) facilitate
electronic transactions of documents with state and local
24 government agencies and promote the
efficient delivery of government
25 services by means of reliable electronic
records;
26 (c) minimize the
incidence of forged electronic records and fraud in
27 electronic commerce;
28 (d) establish
uniformity of rules and regulations regarding the au-
29 thentication and integrity of electronic
records; and
30 (e) promote
public confidence in the privacy, integrity and reliability
31 of electronic records and electronic
commerce.
32 Sec. 3. As
used in this act:
33 (a) ``Digital
signature'' means a type of electronic signature consisting
34 of a transformation of an electronic
message using an asymmetric crypto
35 system such that a person having the
initial message and the signer's
36 public key can accurately determine
whether:
37 (1) The
transformation was created using the private key that corre-
38 sponds to the signer's public key; and
39 (2) the initial
message has not been altered since the transformation
40 was made.
41 (b) ``Electronic
record'' means a record created, generated, sent,
42 communicated, received or stored by
electronic means.
43 (c) ``Electronic
signature'' means an electronic sound, symbol or pro-
2
1 cess attached to or logically
associated with an electronic record and ex-
2 ecuted or adopted by a person with
the intent to sign the electronic
3 record.
4
(d) ``Message'' means a digital representation of
information.
5
(e) ``Person'' means a human being or any organization
capable of
6 signing documents and being
legally bound by those documents. A person
7 may be an individual, body
politic or legal entity any individual, cor-
8 poration, partnership, firm,
company or other association of per-
9 sons, and such term shall include
the state of Kansas and any of its
10 political subdivisions.
11 (f) ``Registered
certification authority'' means a person providing cer-
12 tification of a digital signature who is,
or is certified by, a member of the
13 group of certification authorities approved
by and registered with the
14 secretary.
15 (g) ``Secretary''
means the Kansas secretary of state.
16
(h) ``Transaction'' means an action or set of actions
occurring between
17 two or more persons relating to the conduct
of business, commercial or
18 governmental affairs.
19 Sec. 4. (a)
A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or
20 enforceability solely because it is in
electronic form.
21 (b) A contract
may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely
22 because an electronic record was used in
its formation.
23 (c) If a law
requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record
24 satisfies the law.
25 (d) If a law
requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the
26 law.
27 Sec.
5. Any transaction subject to this act is also subject to
other
28 applicable substantive
law.
29 Sec.
6. 5. (a) This act does not require
any state agency to use or
30 permit the use of electronic or digital
signatures.
31 (b) Any state
agency may adopt rules and regulations governing the
32 agency's use of electronic or digital
signatures as long as the rules and
33 regulations meet or exceed those adopted by
the secretary.
34 Sec.
7. 6. (a) Any person, before entering
upon the duties of a reg-
35 istered certification authority, shall:
36 (1) Register with
the secretary on forms approved and provided by
37 the secretary;
38 (2) pay to the
secretary an annual filing fee of $1,000;
39 (3) file with the
secretary a good and sufficient surety bond, certifi-
40 cate of insurance or other evidence of
financial security in the amount of
41 $100,000; and
42 (4) be approved
by the secretary as meeting the requirements of any
43 rules and regulations adopted by the
secretary, as the secretary deter-
3
1 mines appropriate, to ensure the
person's financial responsibility and con-
2 dition, character, qualifications and
fitness to be a registered certification
3 authority.
4 (b) A
registered certification authority shall create, maintain and
pre-
5 serve all records that are necessary
to demonstrate compliance with rules
6 and regulations adopted by the
secretary.
7 (c) If any
person who is approved and registered with the secretary
8 as a registered certification
authority fails to maintain any of the qualifi-
9 cations listed in subsection (a) and
(b) or otherwise required by rules and
10 regulations of the secretary, the person's
registration shall be deemed
11 lapsed.
12 (d) Any person
who violates or fails to comply with this act and the
13 rules and regulations of the secretary,
upon notice and hearing, shall be
14 subject to a civil penalty not to exceed
$10,000 per failure or violation.
15 Sec.
8. 7. The secretary may adopt rules
and regulations to imple-
16 ment the provisions of this act.
17 Sec.
9. 8. The secretary shall have the
authority to establish reci-
18 procity with other states and nations for
purposes of this act.
19 Sec. 10.
9. K.S.A. 60-2616 is hereby repealed.
20 Sec. 11.
10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and
after
21 its publication in the statute book.