BILL NUMBER: AB 2528 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 1, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Gonzalez , V. Manuel Pérez,
and Ting)
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to amend Section 298.5 of the Family Code, to
add Section 102425.5 102132 to the
Health and Safety Code, and to add Sections 12800.1 and 13000.2
to the Vehicle Code, relating to certificates of
live birth state-issued identity documents .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2528, as amended, Skinner. Certificates of live birth:
State-issued identity documents: diacritical
marks.
Existing law requires that each live birth, fetal death, death,
and marriage that occurs in the state be registered. Existing law
charges the State Registrar with the execution of provisions
regulating these and other vital records. Existing law requires the
registrar to prescribe and furnish all record forms for use in
carrying out those purposes, or to prescribe the format, quality, and
content of forms electronically produced in each county for those
purposes, and provides that no record forms or formats other than
those prescribed by the registrar may be used.
Existing law also provides for the registration of domestic
partnerships and requires 2 persons desiring to become domestic
partners to complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership
with the Secretary of State, who returns to the parties a copy of the
registered form and a Certificate of Registered Domestic
Partnership. Existing law also requires the Department of Motor
Vehicles to issue drivers' licenses and identification cards.
Existing law prescribes the form and content of Certificates of
Registered Domestic Partnership, drivers' licenses, and
identification cards.
This bill would require the State Registrar to ensure that
diacritical marks on English letters are properly recorded on
the certificate of live birth all
certificates of live birth, fetal death, or death, and all marriage
licenses , including, but not limited to, accents, tildes,
graves, umlauts, and cedillas. The bill would require the registrar
to develop procedures to include other reasonable requests relating
to names on certificates of live birth. The bill would impose
similar requirements on the Secretary of State, with respect to
Certificates of Registered Domestic Partnership, and on the
Department of Motor Vehicles, with respect to drivers' licenses and
identification cards. The bill would state findings and
declarations of the Legislature relative to the use of diacritical
marks on certificates of live birth and other forms of
state-issued identity documentation .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) A diacritical mark is used in the Latin script to change the
sound of a letter to which it is added and is used to distinguish the
meaning of the words in which those letters appear.
(b) These changes are significant, especially when considering the
proper pronunciation and meaning of a person's name.
(c) The act of naming a child is often a significant moment for a
family, and diacritical marks in a family name convey importance both
in meaning and familial or cultural traditions.
(d) It is in the best interest of the state to make reasonable
accommodations to parents' wishes when providing their child with a
legal name, including the wish to pass on familial or culturally
significant spellings and meanings , and to ensure that this
information is accurately represented on other forms of state-issued
identity documentation .
SEC. 2. Section 298.5 of the Family
Code is amended to read:
298.5. (a) Two persons desiring to become domestic partners may
complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the
Secretary of State.
(b) The Secretary of State shall register the Declaration of
Domestic Partnership in a registry for those partnerships, and shall
return a copy of the registered form and a Certificate of Registered
Domestic Partnership and, except for those opposite sex domestic
partners who meet the qualifications described in subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 297, a copy of the
brochure that is made available to county clerks and the Secretary of
State by the State Department of Public Health pursuant to Section
358 and distributed to individuals receiving a confidential marriage
license pursuant to Section 503, to the domestic partners at the
mailing address provided by the domestic partners.
(c) No person who has filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership
may file a new Declaration of Domestic Partnership or enter a civil
marriage with someone other than their registered domestic partner
unless the most recent domestic partnership has been terminated or a
final judgment of dissolution or nullity of the most recent domestic
partnership has been entered. This prohibition does not apply if the
previous domestic partnership ended because one of the partners died.
(d) When funding allows, the Secretary of State shall print and
make available upon request, pursuant to Section 358, a lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender specific domestic abuse brochure developed
by the State Department of Public Health and made available to the
Secretary of State to domestic partners who qualify pursuant to
Section 297.
(e) The Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership shall
include the name used by each party before registration of the
domestic partnership and the new name, if any, selected by each party
upon registration of the domestic partnership.
(f) The Secretary of State shall ensure that diacritical marks on
English letters are properly recorded on all Certificates of
Registered Domestic Partnership including, but not limited to,
accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and cedillas. The Secretary of
State shall develop procedures to include other reasonable requests
relating to names on Certificates of Registered Domestic Partnership.
SEC. 3. Section 102132 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
102132. The State Registrar shall ensure that diacritical marks
on English letters are properly recorded on all certificates of live
birth, certificates of fetal death, or certificates of death, and all
marriage licenses, including, but not limited to, accents, tildes,
graves, umlauts, and cedillas. The registrar shall develop procedures
to include other reasonable requests relating to names on
certificates of live birth, certificates of fetal death, or
certificates of death, and marriage licenses.
SEC. 4. Section 12800.1 is added to the
Vehicle Code , to read:
12800.1. The department shall ensure that diacritical marks on
English letters are properly recorded on all drivers' licenses,
including, but not limited to, accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and
cedillas. The department shall develop procedures to include other
reasonable requests relating to names on drivers' licenses.
SEC. 5. Section 13000.2 is added to the
Vehicle Code , to read:
13000.2. The department shall ensure that diacritical marks on
English letters are properly recorded on all identification cards,
including, but not limited to, accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and
cedillas. The department shall develop procedures to include other
reasonable requests relating to names on identification cards.
SEC. 2. Section 102425.5 is added to the Health
and Safety Code, to read:
102425.5. The State Registrar shall ensure that diacritical marks
on English letters are properly recorded on the certificate of live
birth, including, but not limited to, accents, tildes, graves,
umlauts, and cedillas. The registrar shall develop procedures to
include other reasonable requests relating to names on certificates
of live birth.