BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2528 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 8, 2014 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH Richard Pan, Chair AB 2528 (Skinner) - As Amended: April 1, 2014 SUBJECT : State-issued identity documents: diacritical marks. SUMMARY : Requires the State Registrar to ensure that diacritical marks on English letters are properly recorded on birth certificates, including, but not limited to, accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and cedillas and to develop procedures to include other reasonable requests relating to names on birth certificates and creates substantially similar requirements for the Secretary of State relating to certificates of registered domestic partnerships, and the Department of Motor Vehicles relating to identification cards. EXISTING LAW : 1)Proscribes the duties of the State Registrar, including, but not limited to, furnishing all forms for birth, death, fetal death, and marriage certificates. 2)Requires the State Registrar to appoint a Vital Statistics Advisory Committee (VSAC) with the following duties: a) To make recommendations to the State Registrar as to the adequacy of procedures to assure accuracy and confidentiality of personal health and medical information; b) To review the findings of the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS); c) To assure that all research conducted using the data from birth certificates is consistent with guidelines provided by CPHS; d) To review and make recommendations to the State Registrar as to proposals for addition or deletion of items on the certificate of live birth and to advise the State Registrar on the content and format of the certificate; and, e) To take testimony and make recommendations to the State AB 2528 Page 2 Registrar regarding changes in the birth registration system. FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee. COMMENTS : 1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, diacritical marks on letters are not simply decoration; they change the sound of the letter to which they are added and distinguish the meaning of the words in which those letters appear. Many parents agonize over the process of choosing names for their children because names are symbolic, stick with a person forever, and are often tied to cultural traditions. The author further states that this decision should not have to take into consideration the possible misspelling of a family name on legal documents and it's time for the state to ensure the proper recording of names on birth certificates. 2)BACKGROUND . Diacritical marks include, but are not limited to: grave or acute accents (è or á) and tildes (ñ or ã) commonly found in Spanish language names or umlauts (ö or ü) used in German and cedillas (ç or _) found in French, Turkish, and other languages. According to the DPH Office of Vital Records Birth and Death Registration Handbook, "diacritical marks - any of various marks added to a letter to indicate its pronunciation or to distinguish it in some way, e.g., è, ñ, ç," are unacceptable entries. As UC Davis Law Professor, Carlton F.W. Larson notes in a 2011 article in The George Washington Law Review, "The state operates Año Nuevo State Park and Montaña de Oro State Park, both of which are labeled as such on California's State Parks website. On Interstate 80, the state erected a sign noting the exit for Peña Adobe Road. If these names are manageable for naming parks and roads, why are they so difficult to manage for naming people? Indeed, under California's policy, parents cannot name their child after one of the state's own parks." 3)SUPPORT . The American Civil Liberties Union of California and the Council of Mexican Federations support this bill because AB 2528 Page 3 many Californians are being denied the ability to use their true name on legal documents. 4)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 1951 (Gomez) would require the State Registrar to modify birth certificates to recognize same-sex couples, allowing for a gender neutral option on the certificate identifying a "parent." AB 1951 is currently pending in the Assembly Health Committee. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO American Civil Liberties Union of California California Communities United Institute Council of Mexican Federations Opposition None on file. Analysis Prepared by : Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097