§ 2093.Persons authorized to administer oaths and affirmations

This section names who has the legal power to put a witness under oath. The baseline list is broad: a court, a judge or clerk of a court, a justice, a notary public, and any officer or person authorized to take testimony in an action or proceeding, or to decide upon evidence, all have the power to administer oaths and affirmations. A certified shorthand reporter fits into that same authority, and can also perform the duties of a deposition officer, including for depositions taken by telephone or other remote electronic means, with the reporter entitled to certain statutory fees for that work.

The section also opens a narrow door for former judges and justices of a court of record who have retired or resigned. They may administer oaths and affirmations only after requesting and receiving a certification from the Commission on Judicial Performance, which the commission issues on satisfying several conditions: the applicant was not removed from office, was not censured and barred from receiving future court work, did not retire or resign under an agreement to forgo court assignments, and has no unresolved formal disciplinary proceeding pending. The commission can also require a medical certification, issuing a full certification where no impairing condition exists and a certification limited to two years where a condition might impair the applicant’s ability later on, and a pre-2018 certification remains valid until it expires under its own terms. The commission may charge a capped regulatory fee for the application, its confidentiality rules do not block it from issuing the certificate, and administering an oath under this section without pay does not run into a separate Government Code restriction on compensation for retired judicial officers.