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: 8/26/13 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, as of July1, 2014, creates an optional administrative procedure for a transgender person born in California to amend gender and name on his/her birth certificate without first obtaining a court order. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/26/13 clarify that the administrative change of a birth certificate include gender marker and court-ordered change of name only; clarify that a doctor who signs an affidavit must include his/her medical license number; and eliminate the requirement that courts make a name change confidential at the request of the petitioner, CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 2 thereby making the name of the transgender applicant available for review as with other court-ordered name changes. 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 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. CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 3 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 and submits an affidavit from a physician, as specified. Further requires the State Registrar to follow certain procedures in preparing the birth certificate so that it reflects the person's correct sex and name, if applicable. 2. Requires, rather than permits, the court to grant an uncontested name change petition without a hearing. 3. Exempts from newspaper publication requirements any petition for change of name that is sought in order to conform the petitioner's name to his/her gender identity, and requires the petition and court order to indicate the proposed name is confidential rather than reciting the name. 4. Has an operative date of July 1, 2014. 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 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. CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 4 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 8/27/13) 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 OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/27/13) Capitol Resource Family Impact ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author: CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 5 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 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 CONTINUED AB 1121 Page 6 AL:k 8/28/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED