BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1733
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 1, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Richard Pan, Chair
AB 1733 (Quirk-Silva, Atkins and Maienschein) - As Amended:
March 25, 2014
SUBJECT : Public records: fee waiver.
SUMMARY : Requires the State Registrar to issue, without a fee,
a certificate of live birth and requires the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) to issue, without a fee, an identification (ID)
card to applicants who certify that they are homeless.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the State Registrar to issue, without a fee, a
certificate of live birth to an applicant who certifies, and
provides sufficient corroborating evidence to demonstrate that
he or she is homeless.
2)Requires the DMV to issue, without a fee, an ID card or senior
citizen ID card to an applicant who certifies and provides
sufficient corroborating evidence to demonstrate that he or
she is homeless.
3)Defines "homeless person," and "homeless child or youth" as
referenced by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act, in part as:
a) An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and
adequate nighttime residence; an individual or family with
a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private
place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular
sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car,
park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or
camping ground; or,
b) An individual or family living in a supervised publicly
or privately operated shelter designated to provide
temporary living arrangements (including hotels and motels
paid for by Federal, State, or local government programs
for low-income individuals or by charitable organizations,
congregate shelters, and transitional housing).
4)Specifies that the provisions of this bill take effect January
1, 2016.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the State Registrar of Vital Statistics (the Director
of the Department of Public Health (DPH)), a local
registrar, or a county recorder, upon payment of a required
fee, to supply applicants with a certified copy of birth,
fetal death, death, marriage, or divorce records.
2)Allows the State Registrar, local registrar, or county
recorder to furnish a certified copy of birth, death, or
marriage records to applicants upon request if:
a) The request is written or faxed and accompanied by a
notarized statement, sworn under penalty of perjury, that
the requester is an "authorized person," or,
b) The request is made in person, and the official takes a
statement, sworn under penalty of perjury, that the
requester is signing his or her own legal name and is an
"authorized person."
3)Defines "authorized person," for purposes of obtaining
certified copies of birth, death, or nonconfidential marriage
records, as any of the following:
a) The person who is the subject of the record or the
parent or legal guardian of that person;
b) A party who is entitled to receive the record as a
result of a court order, or certain parties associated with
an adoption;
c) Law enforcement or governmental agency personnel
conducting official business;
d) A child, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner,
or grandparent of the person who is the subject of the
record;
e) An attorney or other person empowered to act on behalf
of the person who is the subject of the record or his or
her estate; or,
f) An agent or employee of a funeral establishment who
orders death certificates when acting on behalf of
specified individuals.
1)Requires a notary, prior to notarizing a document, to obtain
satisfactory evidence of the identity of the person signing
the document. This evidence can include any of the following:
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a) The oath of a witness who is personally know to the
notary, as specified;
b) The oath of two witnesses who prove their identities
with a current passport or ID card, as specified; or,
c) Presentation of a current passport or ID card, as
specified.
2)Requires all applicants who are not authorized persons to be
provided with an informational certified copy that states,
"INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY."
3)Requires applicants for birth or death records to pay a fee.
In addition to this fee, requires applicants for birth, death,
or marriage records to pay an additional $1 fee, which
provides funding for: a) the development of safety and
security measures to protect against fraudulent use of vital
records; and, b) the costs of additional security features
that local registrars and county recorders are required to
implement.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, many people
experiencing homelessness lack the necessary forms of personal
identification needed to establish their eligibility for
various public assistance and social programs. The most
common forms of ID that people need in order to access these
programs are birth records and a valid, government-issued
photo ID card. This bill will allow a person experiencing
homelessness to submit an affidavit of homelessness and
financial need with an application for birth certificate or a
state-issued ID, providing a process by which these fees can
be waived. According to the author, this will reduce the time
that people experiencing homelessness rely on costly emergency
services, creating long-term savings to state and county
emergency services providers.
2)BACKGROUND . The base fee for a copy of a birth certificate is
$12 and counties are allowed to raise the fee to cover the
costs of modernizing vital record operations and improving the
collection and analysis of health related birth and death
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certificate information. Costs vary from county to county
with the average cost to receive a copy of a birth certificate
falling between $23 and $28. According to DPH they do not
currently have a process in place to provide a free or reduced
cost birth certificate.
The DMV offers a reduced fee ID card to applicants who have
been identified by a governmental or non-profit agency as
meeting the income eligibility requirements for certain
specified assistance programs, including but not limited to,
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, Food
Stamps/CalFresh, and Supplemental Security Income.
Outside of the cost, there is no difference between the
reduced fee ID and the ID issued to applicants that pay the
full amount. A government or non-profit agency must contact
DMV to request the verification paperwork and confirm that a
customer's income meets the requirements for a reduced fee ID
card. The agency will complete the paperwork which is
provided to the customer to bring into their local DMV office
for processing. Currently, the reduced fee ID card is $8. In
the 12 months ending November 2013, DMV issued a total of
143,726 reduced fee ID cards, of which 34,193 were original ID
cards and the rest were renewals.
3)SUGGESTED AMENDMENT . The author may want to consider amending
this bill to require DPH to develop an "affidavit of
homelessness" for homeless persons to use when requesting a
free copy of their birth certificate, analogous to the
requirements of DMV.
4)SUPPORT . According to Housing California (HC), the sponsor of
this bill, the problem of homelessness in California is
epidemic and the state is home to more than 1 in 5 people
experiencing homelessness in the United States. HC writes in
support that people experiencing homelessness and living in
poverty are often without the resources to pay for a certified
birth certificate or state ID card. Their inability to access
programs designed to improve their self-sufficiency allows
homelessness to persist, holding individuals back and costing
California millions of dollars in city, county and state
emergency resources.
The National Association of Social Workers, the Coalition of
California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc. and many other
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groups also support the bill, writing that people who
experience homelessness rely on access to government programs
or social services in order to obtain the necessary items to
survive, however, nearly every state and federal program that
provides these services requires an applicant to provide proof
of identity or residence in order to qualify and this bill
will make it easier for them to do so.
5)RELATED LEGISLATION .
a) AB 2275 (Ridley-Thomas) would authorize the State
Registrar, local registrar, or county recorder to accept
requests for birth certificates via email. AB 2275 is
currently pending in the Assembly Health Committee.
b) AB 2525 (Skinner) would require the State Registrar to
ensure that diacritical marks on English letters are
properly recorded on birth certificates. AB 2525 is
currently pending in the Assembly Health Committee.
6)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION . SB 1098 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review), Chapter 212, Statutes of 2004, a Budget trailer bill
that, among other things, authorizes the DMV to provide photo
IDs at a reduced fee to qualified individuals.
7)DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred. Should
this bill pass out of this Committee, it will be referred to
the Assembly Committee on Transportation.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Housing California (sponsor)
California Church IMPACT
California Coalition for Youth
California Communities United Institute
California Mental Health Directors Association
California Mental Health Planning Council
California Police Chiefs Association
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Central Coast HIV/AIDS Services
Century Housing Corporation
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
Compass Family Services
Corporation for Supportive Housing
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County of Santa Clara
County Welfare Directors Association of California
First Place for Youth
Kings/Tulare Continuum of Care on Homelessness
Larkin Street Youth Services
Loaves & Fishes
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and
Youth
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
Paratransit, Inc.
River City Food Bank
Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee
Sacramento Housing Alliance
Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Skid Row Housing Trust
Sonoma County Task Force for the Homeless
Swords to Plowshares
Western Center on Law & Poverty
Numerous individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097