BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair BILL NO: AB 1733 AUTHOR: Quirk-Silva, Atkins, and Maienschein AMENDED: May 23, 2014 HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014 CONSULTANT: Moreno SUBJECT : Public records: fee waiver. SUMMARY : Requires local registrars or county recorders, on or after July 1, 2015, to issue a birth certificate without a fee to any person, who can verify his or her status as a homeless person or a homeless child or youth, as defined. Prohibits, on and after January 1, 2016, a fee from being charged for an original or replacement identification card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to any person who can verify his or her status as a homeless person or homeless child or youth, as specified. Existing law: 1.Requires the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, 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. Requires applicants for birth or death records to pay a fee. 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 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, 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 non-confidential marriage records, as: 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 Continued--- AB 1733 | Page 2 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. 4.Requires a notary, prior to notarizing a document, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of the person signing the document. Permits this evidence to include the oath of a witness who is personally know to the notary, as specified; the oath of two witnesses who prove their identities with a current passport or identification (ID) card, as specified; or, presentation of a current passport or ID card, as specified. 5.Permits the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue an ID card to any person who provides their true full name, correct age, and any other identifying data as required by DMV. Requires an application for an ID card to be signed and verified by the applicant, as specified, and requires the applicant to provide a legible thumb or finger print. Requires a $26 fee to be paid to DMV for the issuance of an ID card. Requires an original or replacement ID card for a senior citizen to be issued free of charge. Requires an original or replacement ID card to be $6 for an applicant that can provide proof of eligibility for public assistance programs, as specified. This bill: 1.Requires local registrars or county recorders, on or after July 1, 2015, to issue a birth certificate without a fee to any person, who can verify his or her status as a homeless person or a homeless child or youth, as defined. Permits Department of Public Health (DPH) to implement and administer this bill through an all-county letter or similar instructions from the director or State Registrar. 2.Prohibits, on and after January 1, 2016, a fee from being charged for an original or replacement ID card issued to any AB 1733 | Page 3 person who can verify his or her status as a homeless person or homeless child or youth. Requires a determination of eligibility for these purposes be subject to regulations adopted by the DMV. Prohibits a person applying for an identification card from being charged a fee for verification of his or her eligibility. 3.Permits a homeless services provider that has knowledge of a person's housing status to verify that status for the purposes in 1) and 2) above. Defines "homeless services provider" as including, but not being limited to: a. A governmental or nonprofit agency receiving federal, state, or county or municipal funding to provide services to a "homeless person" or "homeless child or youth," or that is otherwise sanctioned to provide those services by a local homeless continuum of care organization; b. An attorney licensed to practice law in this state; c. A local educational agency liaison for homeless children and youth designated as such pursuant to existing federal law, or a school social worker; d. A human services provider or public social services provider funded by the State to provide homeless children or youth services, health services, mental or behavioral health services, substance use disorder services, or public assistance or employment services; and, for the purposes of an ID card, any other homeless services provider that is qualified to verify an individual's housing status, as determined by the DMV. 4.Requires a request for a birth certificate made pursuant to this bill to be made by a homeless person or a homeless child or youth on behalf of themselves, or by any person lawfully entitled to request a certified record of live birth on behalf of a child, if the child has been verified as a homeless person or a homeless child or youth, as specified. 5.Entitles a person applying for a birth certificate under this bill to one certificate, per application, for each eligible person verified as a homeless person or a homeless child or youth. 6.Requires DPH to develop an affidavit that permits a person who makes a request for a birth certificate to attest to his or AB 1733 | Page 4 her status as a homeless person or a homeless child or youth. Requires the affidavit, for purposes of this bill, to constitute sufficient verification that a person is a homeless person or a homeless child or youth. 7.Prohibits a person applying for a birth certificate under this bill from being charged a fee for verification of his or her eligibility. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, one-time costs in the range of $150,000 to the DMV (Motor Vehicle Account) for programming costs to allow for the no-fee ID card, processing and mailing of additional ID cards, revision of publications and forms, establishment of regulations, and development and issuance of memorandum to staff. In January 2013, there were approximately 136,000 homeless individuals in California. If five percent of these individuals requested an identifying document in a given year, this bill would generate costs of $50,000 to the General Fund in state-reimbursable mandate costs to account for lost revenue to counties and additional workload. This bill would also result in minor revenue loss and additional workload, likely around $100,000 statewide (Motor Vehicle Account) to DMV to provide free ID cards. PRIOR VOTES : Assembly Health: 19- 0 Assembly Transportation:16- 0 Assembly Appropriations: 17- 0 Assembly Floor: 77- 0 COMMENTS : 1.Author's statement. According to the author, people experiencing homelessness rely on access to government programs and social services in order to obtain housing, employment, nutrition, health services, education, public assistance and other benefits. Nearly every state and federal program providing these services requires an applicant establish eligibility by producing proof of identity and/or proof of residence. The most common documents required are a certified birth record and a valid, government-issued photo identification card. Many people experiencing homelessness lack the necessary forms of personal identification needed to establish their eligibility for the various public assistance AB 1733 | Page 5 and social programs previously mentioned. The most common forms of identification that people experiencing homelessness need in order to access these programs are birth records and government-issued photo identification. DPH and DMV both charge fees to obtain certified copies of vital records and government-issued photo identification, respectively. For many people experiencing homelessness, the fees levied are a cost-prohibitive barrier to the legal documents they need to access programs that could help end their homelessness. 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 certificate information. Costs vary from county to county with the average cost to receive a copy of a birth certificate ranging from $23 to $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. 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.Double referral. This bill has been double referred. Should it pass out of this committee, it will be referred to Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. 4.Prior legislation. SB 1098 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 212, Statutes of 2004, among other things, authorized the DMV to provide photo IDs at a reduced fee to AB 1733 | Page 6 qualified individuals. 5.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 one in five 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 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. 6.Oppose unless amended. The County Recorders' Association of California writes that this bill will allow a homeless individual to receive copies of birth certificates for their parents, grandparents, siblings, spouse, domestic partner, children and grandchildren - even if those persons were not homeless and this could create a significant cost to County Recorders. They oppose this bill unless it is amended so that recorders can recover their costs for producing the document as necessary. 7.Amendment. Under current provisions, it is not clear as to whether a homeless service provider's sign-off is required for verification of a person's homelessness, or if someone can self-certify. According to the author, the intent is to not allow for self-certification. Towards that intent, the author has agreed to an amendment to require the affidavit to include verification of an applicant being homeless by a homeless services provider. SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION : Support: Housing California (sponsor) American Legion, Dept. of California AMVETS, Dept. of California Aspiranet AB 1733 | Page 7 California Association of County Veterans Service Officers (CACVSO) California Catholic Conference of Bishops California Church IMPACT California Coalition for Youth California Communities United Institute California Mental Health Directors Association (CMHDA) California Mental Health Planning Council California Police Chiefs Association California State Association of Counties (CSAC) California State Commanders Veterans Council Central Coast HIV/AIDS Services Century Housing City and County of San Francisco Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc. Compass Family Services Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) Cottage Housing, Inc. County of Santa Clara County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) EAH Housing First Place for Youth General Assistance Advocacy Project (GAAP) Home Start Hoopa Valley Tribe Housing California (Sponsor) Kern County Homeless Collaborative (KCHC) Kings/Tulare Continuum of Care Larkin Street Youth Services Law Foundation of Silicon Valley LINC Housing Loaves & Fishes Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Mammoth Lakes Housing, Inc. Marin Partnership to End Homelessness Military Officers Association of America, California Council Chapters National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth National Association of Social Workers (NASW) California Chapter Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority AB 1733 | Page 8 Paratransit Pathways of Hope People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) Plowshares Project Homeless Connect (PHC) Project Sanctuary Redwood Children Services, Inc. River City Food Bank Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC) Sacramento Homeless Youth Task Force Sacramento Housing Alliance (SHA) Sacramento LGBT Community Center Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness (SCREH) San Diego Housing Commission San Diego Housing Federation San Diego Hunger Coalition San Luis Obispo County Office of Education Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000 Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians Skid Row Housing Trust Sonoma County Task Force for the Homeless St. Mary's Center St. Vincent DePaul - Father Joe's Villages Swords to Plowshares United Way of Greater Los Angeles United Way of Silicon Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars, Dept. of California Western Center on Law and Poverty Womanhaven, Inc. Yolo County Continuum of Care Yolo County Office of Education Oppose: County Recorders' Association of California (unless amended) -- END --