I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10475 

To direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 

a grant program to address deed fraud, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 18, 2024 

Mr. CLEAVER (for himself and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 

and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 

to establish a grant program to address deed fraud, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Good Documentation 

5 and Enforcement of Estate Deeds Act of 2023’’ or the 

6 ‘‘Good DEED Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEED FRAUD GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

4 Housing and Urban Development shall establish a pro5 gram (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to 

6 award grants, on a competitive basis, to address deed 

7 fraud in accordance with this section. 

8 (b) ELIGIBILITY.— 

9 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In carrying out the 

10 Program, the Secretary may award a grant to the 

11 following: 

12 (A) A State. 

13 (B) A political subdivision of a State with 

14 a population of 200,000 or more individuals. 

15 (2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

16 grant under the Program, an entity specified in 

17 paragraph (1) shall submit to the Secretary an ap18 plication at such time, in such manner, and con19 taining such information as the Secretary deter20 mines appropriate. 

21 (3) FINGERPRINT REQUIREMENT.—To be eligi22 ble to receive a grant under the Program, an entity 

23 specified in paragraph (1) that is a State shall re24 quire that if a document to be notarized is a written 

25 instrument transferring an interest in real property, 


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1 any notary public preforming an in-person notariza2 tion shall— 

3 (A) if a print notary journal is used, re4 quire the party signing the document to place 

5 his or her right thumbprint or other finger 

6 print as appropriate in a sequential notary jour7 nal entry; and 

8 (B) if an electronic notary journal is 

9 used— 

10 (i) save to such journal a picture of 

11 the signing party’s face; or 

12 (ii) save to such journal a video of the 

13 signer during the act of signing. 

14 (4) RECORDING RETENTION REQUIREMENT.— 

15 To be eligible to receive a grant under the Program, 

16 a State shall require any notary public performing 

17 remote notarization using audio-visual technology 

18 with respect to a written instrument transferring an 

19 interest in real property to submit an audio and vis20 ual recording of the notarization to a repository ap21 proved by such State where such recording shall be 

22 retained for not less than 10 years. 

23 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant recipient under the 

24 Program may only use grant amounts to fund the folVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 Jan 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10475.IH H10475

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1 lowing activities carried out by the recipient or a covered 

2 organization: 

3 (1) Legal assistance related to deed fraud for a 

4 low-income individual. 

5 (2) Coverage of costs associated with clearing a 

6 title for a low-income individual. 

7 (3) Acquisition, upgrade, or implementation of 

8 technology that— 

9 (A) assists in preventing or detecting or re10 sponding to deed fraud; 

11 (B) facilitates communication in response 

12 to the detection of deed fraud; 

13 (C) assists in the creation of websites re14 lating to deed fraud; 

15 (D) assists in the creation and use of pub16 lic notification systems; 

17 (E) allows for geospatial information sys18 tem mapping of deed fraud report locations; 

19 (F) enhances the indexing of information 

20 relating to deed fraud; 

21 (G) improves the exchange of data relating 

22 to deed fraud; or 

23 (H) reduces notarial fraud or mistake in 

24 the performance of notarial acts. 


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1 (4) Assistance in the prevention, detection, in2 vestigation, and prosecution of deed fraud, including 

3 through the provision of— 

4 (A) education and training; 

5 (B) information sharing and partnership 

6 facilitation; 

7 (C) research support and other assistance 

8 supportive of intelligence-focused policing; and 

9 (D) investigative support, including sup10 port staff, detectives, and prosecutors. 

11 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

12 (1) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under the 

13 Program, the Secretary shall give priority to grant 

14 applications that propose to assist an area with a 

15 high actual or potential risk of deed fraud affecting 

16 title, as determined by the Secretary. 

17 (2) MINIMUM ALLOCATION FOR LEGAL SERV18 ICES.—At least 35 percent of the amounts awarded 

19 by the Secretary under the Program shall be used 

20 to provide legal assistance described in subsections 

21 (c)(1) and (c)(2). 

22 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

24 to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 

25 Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, 


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1 and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report on the Program, 

2 including— 

3 (1) a description of activities funded under the 

4 Program; 

5 (2) an identification of factors that increase 

6 and decrease the likelihood of deed fraud, which 

7 shall include the impact of state laws; and 

8 (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

9 Program in assisting victims of deed fraud affecting 

10 title. 

11 (f) UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM.—The 

12 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations shall, not 

13 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

14 Act, add a categories for deed fraud to the Uniform Crime 

15 Reporting Program. 

16 (g) UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION.— 

17 The United States Sentencing Commission, shall, not later 

18 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act 

19 promulgate guidelines or amend existing guidelines to pro20 vide sentencing enhancements for offenses that involve 

21 deed fraud. 

22 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

24 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028. 

25 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) COVERED ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘cov2 ered organization’’ means each of the following: 

3 (A) A legal services organization; or 

4 (B) a non-profit organization, or a State, 

5 Tribal, or local government agency that devel6 ops laws, policies or programs designed to pre7 vent, detect, deter and remedy deed fraud and 

8 related issues. 

9 (2) JOURNAL.—The term ‘‘journal’’ means— 

10 (A) a record of notarial acts that is created 

11 and maintained by a notary public; or 

12 (B) all journals of notarial acts created 

13 and maintained by a notary public. 

14 (3) LEGAL SERVICES ORGANIZATION.—The 

15 term ‘‘legal services organization’’ means— 

16 (A) an accredited law school; 

17 (B) a public provider of legal aid or legal 

18 services; or 

19 (C) a nonprofit provider of legal aid or 

20 legal services. 

21 (4) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘low22 income individual’’ means an individual with a 

23 household income that does not exceed 80 percent of 

24 the median income of the area in which such indi25 vidual resides, as determined by the Secretary. 


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1 (5) DEED FRAUD.—The term ‘‘deed fraud’’ 

2 means forgery, impersonation, or willful misrepre3 sentation of authority in connection with the execu4 tion of a written instrument transferring an interest 

5 in real property. 

6 (6) WRITTEN INSTRUMENT TRANSFERRING AN

7 INTEREST IN REAL PROPERTY.— The term ‘‘written 

8 instrument transferring an interest in real property’’ 

9 includes any deed, mortgage, satisfaction of mort10 gage, contract of sale, assignment or termination of 

11 any of the foregoing, or any other instrument which 

12 does or may evidence, create, transfer, terminate or 

13 otherwise affect a legal right or interest in real prop14 erty, or is required for the filing of a deed, including 

15 a notarial certificate, with an agency of a State or 

16 any political subdivision, public authority or public 

17 benefit corporation of a State. 

Æ 


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