BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1577
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Date of Hearing: March 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Richard Pan, Chair
AB 1577 (Atkins) - As Amended: March 19, 2014
SUBJECT : Certificates of death: gender identity.
SUMMARY : Requires the person completing a death certificate to
record the decedent's sex to reflect the decedent's gender
identity as reported by the person or source best qualified to
supply this information, unless presented with a legal document
that documents the decedent's gender transition. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires, when the person controlling the disposition of the
remains is in disagreement with the most recently dated
document presented, the document providing evidence of the
decedent's gender transition will prevail.
2)Specifies legal documents that can be used to prove a
decedent's gender identity include, but are not limited to: a
birth certificate, a driver's license, a court order approving
a name or gender change, a passport, an advanced health care
directive, or proof of clinical treatment for gender
transition.
3)Specifies a person completing the death certificate is not
liable for any damages or costs arising from claims related to
the sex of the decedent as entered on the death certificate.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires each death to be registered with the local registrar
of births and deaths in the district in which the death was
officially pronounced or the body was found within eight
calendar days after the death and before the disposition of
the remains.
2)Requires a funeral director to prepare the certificate and
register it with the local registrar and to obtain the
required information, other than medical and health data, from
the person or source best qualified supply this information.
3)Requires the medical and health section data and the time of
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death to be completed by the physician and surgeon last in
attendance, or in the case of a patient in a skilled nursing
or intermediate care facility, by a licensed physician
assistant legally authorized to certify and attest to the
facts, or in certain cases, to be completed by the county
coroner.
4)Specifies that a certificate of death shall contain certain
information concerning the decedent necessary to establish the
fact of the death, including but not limited to the decedents
full name, sex, color or race, marital status, name of spouse,
date of birth and age at death, birthplace, usual residence,
and occupation.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, all of the
official documents of a transgender person should be
consistent with their gender identity. The author further
states that this is part of their right and ability to have
authentic lives consistent with who they really are or were.
An inconsistent death certificate is particularly problematic
because a person has limited control over what happens after
they have passed on.
The author further illustrates the need for the bill with the
case of a female to male transgender person and community
activist who passed away in December of 2012. His sex was
listed on his death certificate as female because he
maintained his female anatomy. It is not uncommon for a
transgender person to retain some physical characteristics of
the gender assigned to them at birth, even though they have
transitioned to a new gender identity. According to the
National Transgender Taskforce only 23% of transgender women
have had vaginoplasty and only 2% of transgender men have had
phalloplasty.
2)BACKGROUND . The University of California, Berkeley Gender
Equity Resource Center defines transgender in the following
manner: Transgender (sometimes shortened to trans or TG)
people are those whose psychological self (gender identity)
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differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they
were born with. To understand this, one must understand the
difference between biological sex, which is one's body
(genitals, chromosomes, etc.), and social gender, which refers
to levels of masculinity and femininity. Often, society
conflates sex and gender, viewing them as the same thing. But
gender and sex are not the same thing. Transgender people are
those whose psychological self (gender identity) differs from
the social expectations for the physical sex they were born
with. For example, a female with a masculine gender identity
or who identifies as a man.
A University of California, Los Angeles Williams Institute
study from 2008 estimates that 0.3% of adults are transgender.
3)SUPPORT . The Transgender Law Center and Equality California,
the cosponsors of this bill write in support that current
California law governing the completion of death certificates
fails to provide sufficient direction to the authorities, such
as funeral directors and coroners who are responsible for
determining a person's gender designation after death. In
some cases, this lack of clarity has resulted in the issuance
of a death certificate that inaccurately reflects a
transgender person's gender. When a transgender person is
ascribed the incorrect gender, whether on official documents
or in the media, it is disrespectful to the memory of the
deceased person and can be deeply painful and stigmatizing to
grieving friends, family, and fellow community members.
The Civil Justice Association of California supports this bill
because it grants civil immunity to coroners and funeral home
directors when they record the sex of a transgendered person
and will allow those professionals to do their jobs without
fear of a meritless lawsuit.
4)OPPOSITION . Capitol Resource Family Impact opposes this bill
because it would give an acquaintance the legal authority to
change the legal gender of a person after death, and they
believe if a person chose to not take the legal steps to
change his or her gender during his or her lifetime, no
individual should have the right to make that change for that
person after their death.
5)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION . AB 1121 (Atkins), Chapter 651, Statutes
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of 2013, creates, as of July 1, 2014, 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Equality California (cosponsor)
Transgender Law Center (cosponsor)
American Civil Liberties Union of California
California Communities United Institute
Civil Justice Association of California
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
Opposition
Capitol Resource Family Impact
Analysis Prepared by : Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097