BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1121| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 2 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 CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 3 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 CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 4 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 CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 5 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, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 6 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 **** END **** CONTINUED