BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1121
Author: Atkins (D), et al.
Amended: 7/9/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-2, 7/2/13
AYES: Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning
NOES: Walters, Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 57-17, 5/9/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Gender identity: petition for change of name
SOURCE : Equality California
Transgender Law Center
DIGEST : This bill, beginning July 1, 2014, provides that if a
petition for a change of name is sought to conform a petitioners
name to his/her gender identity, and no timely objection is
filed, the court is required to grant the petition without a
hearing, and exempts the petition action from a specified
publication requirement and requires that the petition and order
of the court indicate that the proposed name is confidential.
This bill authorizes a court, at the request of the petitioner,
to issue an order reciting the name of the petitioner as a
result of the court's granting of the petition. This bill
requires the State Registrar to issue a new birth certificate
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without a court order for any person born in the state who has
undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of
gender transition and to submit to the Registrar an affidavit of
a physician attesting that the person has undergone that
treatment, as specified. Upon receipt of the documentation and
a prescribed fee, the Registrar is required to establish a new
birth certificate reflecting the person's sex and name, if
applicable.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Allows any person who has undergone a clinically appropriate
treatment for the purpose of gender transition to petition
the superior court for a judgment and court order recognizing
the change of gender.
2. Requires the above petition to be accompanied by: (a) an
affidavit of a physician, attesting that the person has
undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of
gender transition, as specified; and (b) a certified copy of
the court order changing the applicant's name, if applicable.
3. Authorizes the court, upon hearing of the petition, to
examine the petitioner, and any other person having knowledge
of facts relevant to the application, and further requires
the court to grant the petition at the end of the hearing if
the court determines that the physician's affidavit shows
that the person has undergone clinically appropriate
treatment for the purpose of gender transition.
4. Provides that the new birth certificate replace any birth
certificate previously registered for the applicant, and be
the only birth certificate open to public inspection.
5. Requires a person seeking a change of name to file a
petition with the court, as specified, and the court to make
an order reciting that petition to all interested persons so
that they may file an objection with the court.
6. Requires a copy of the order to show cause to be published
in a newspaper of general circulation at least once a week
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for four weeks.
7. Authorizes the court to enter an order to grant a name
change without hearing if no objection is filed at least two
court days before the hearing date.
8. Allows participants in the Secretary of State's address
confidentiality program who petition the court for a change
of name to be exempt from the newspaper publication
requirements and to have increased confidentiality of their
name in court records.
This bill:
1. Requires the State Registrar to issue a new birth
certificate, without a court order, for any person born in
California who has undergone clinically appropriate treatment
for the purpose of gender transition who submits an affidavit
from a physician, as specified.
2. Requires, rather than authorizes, the court to grant an
uncontested name change petition without a hearing.
3. Exempts any petition for a change of name that is sought in
order to conform the petitioner's name to his/her gender
identity from newspaper publication requirements, and
requires the petition and court order to indicate the
proposed name is confidential rather than reciting the name.
4. Provides that the current legal name of the petitioner shall
be kept confidential by the court and not published in any
court records or public forum or media, as specified, when
the petition is sought to conform the petitioner's name to
his/her gender identity.
Background
For many transgender people, living an authentic life means
changing their identity documentation to reflect the way they
see themselves versus the way society identifies them. The
ability to change one's documentation or status can have a
significant impact on all other aspects of a person's life
including employment, marriage, and inheritance rights.
Difficulty is created by the fact that each state (and, for
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foreign born United States residents and citizens, each country)
and the federal government has its own rules for how to change
names and gender marker information. A court-ordered name
change is also a legal prerequisite to changing the name on many
other identity documents, including a driver's license, a U.S.
passport, or Social Security records.
California requires a court order, based on a physician's
affidavit attesting to the gender transition surgery, before the
state's Office of Vital Records may change the gender marker
and/or name on a birth certificate. In addition, to receive a
court-ordered name change, a person typically must participate
in a hearing in open court, although judges can waive the
hearing requirement if no one files an objection, and must
publish the order to show cause for four weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in the county where the petitioner lives.
Prior Legislation
AB 433 (Lowenthal, Chapter 718, Statutes of 2011) authorized an
individual who has undergone gender transition, as specified, to
file a petition with the superior court in any county to seek a
judgment recognizing the change of gender, and required that the
physician's accompanying affidavit must be accepted as
conclusive proof of the gender change.
AB 1185 (Lieu, 2009) would have allowed an individual who has
undergone a sex change operation to obtain a new birth
certificate, by court order from his or her county of birth, in
addition to his/her county of residence. The bill was vetoed
by Governor Schwarzenegger.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/13)
AIDS Legal Referral Panel
California Immigrant Policy Center
California United Institute
Centro Legal De La Raza
City of West Hollywood
Equality California
Transgender Law Center
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/13/13)
Capitol Resource Family Impact
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
The current California procedures to change a person's name
and/or gender are extremely costly and burdensome,
particularly for low-income transgender individuals who may
not meet the extremely low income limits to be eligible for
court fee waivers and who generally do not have access to
attorneys to help them navigate the court system.
AB 1121 would create a new administrative option for
transgender people seeking to amend the gender and/or name on
a California birth certificate, eliminating the unnecessary
interim step of getting a court order before the State
Registrar can change a birth certificate. AB 1121 would also
remove the expensive and burdensome newspaper publication
requirement for transgender people seeking legal name changes
and would provide that a name change that is uncontested must
be granted without a hearing.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Capitol Resource Family Impact
writes that this bill creates "special privileges for a select
segment of society [which] will pose a significant public safety
concern for the rest of the public. The law would open the door
for criminals, or any persons with other fraudulent intent, to
obtain a new identity simply by stating that his or her
perceived gender identity differs from the sex assigned to them
at birth."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 57-17, 5/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly,
Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez,
Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres,
Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
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NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines,
Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Mansoor, Morrell, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Logue, Maienschein, Melendez,
Waldron, Vacancy
AL:k 8/13/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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