El Cajon is looking to go digital to improve city services by utilizing electronic signatures on electronic records. On March 8, El Cajon City Council held a first readying of an ordinance for staff to move forward in implementing electronic signatures using technology approved by the Secretary of State, and staff can develop administrative policies and procedures to establish the use of electronic signatures.
“The use of electronic signatures on legally binding documents is increasingly prevalent in the private industry and gaining popularity among public agencies, and some of the benefits include reduction in paper use, time, and costs associated with transmitting, approving, tracking, and storing physical documents,” stated City Attorney in the staff report.
The state adopted a version of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act guaranteeing electronic signatures have the same legal effect as manual signatures in 1999, and in 2000, Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act mandating the same.
