BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 1546
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|AUTHOR: |Olsen |
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|VERSION: |April 14, 2016 |
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|HEARING DATE: |June 15, 2016 | | |
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|CONSULTANT: |Melanie Moreno |
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SUBJECT : Vital records
SUMMARY :1) Permits local registrars to release vital record indices to
the county recorder within its jurisdiction for purposes of the
preparation or maintenance of the indices of the county
recorder. Permits the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
suspend the use of any security feature required under existing
law if necessary to supply an applicant with a certified copy of
a birth, death, or marriage record. Requires DPH, in
consultation with the County Recorders' Association of
California and other stakeholders, to study all security
features for paper used to print vital records, and to submit a
report to the Legislature.
Existing law:
1)Requires the Director of the DPH, acting as the State
Registrar, to administer the registration of births, deaths,
fetal deaths, and marriages.
2)Establishes the Office of Vital Records within DPH to maintain
a uniform system for registration and a permanent central
registry with a comprehensive and continuous index for all
birth, death, fetal death, marriage and dissolution
certificates registered for vital events which occur in
California.
3)Requires that specified birth, death, and marriage record
indices prepared or maintained by local registrars and county
recorders be kept confidential. Permits the State Registrar,
at his or her discretion, to release vital record indices to a
government agency. Requires, notwithstanding this requirement,
local registrars and county recorders to release, when
requested, vital record indices to the State Registrar.
AB 1546 (Olsen) Page 2 of ?
4)Requires that each certified copy of a birth, death, or
marriage record contain specified information and be printed
on sensitized security paper with specified security features,
including: intaglio print; latent image; fluorescent,
consecutive numbering with matching barcode; microprint line;
prismatic printing; watermark; void pantograph, fluorescent
security threads; fluorescent fibers; and, any other security
features deemed necessary by the State Registrar.
This bill:
1)Permits local registrars to release their comprehensive birth
and death record indices to the county recorder within its
jurisdiction for purposes of the preparation or maintenance of
the indices of the county recorder.
2)Permits DPH to suspend the use of any security feature
described in 4) of existing law above if necessary to enable
the department, a local registrar, county recorder, or county
clerk to supply an applicant with a certified copy of a birth,
death, or marriage record.
3)Requires DPH, in consultation with the County Recorders'
Association of California and other stakeholders, to study all
security features for paper used to print vital records, or
alternative security features that are equal to or better than
those that are currently mandated. Requires DPH, on or before
January 1, 2018, to submit to the Legislature a report that
contains the findings of the study and legislative
recommendations pertaining to those findings, as specified.
4)Contains an urgency clause that will make this bill effective
upon enactment.
FISCAL
EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
minor and absorbable costs to DPH to complete the report (Health
Statistics fund).
PRIOR
VOTES :
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|Assembly Floor: |79 - 0 |
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|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |17 - 0 |
AB 1546 (Olsen) Page 3 of ?
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|Assembly Health Committee: |19 - 0 |
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COMMENTS :
1)Author's statement. According to the author, vital records
are required to be used in a myriad of important tasks, such
as proving identity and managing estates, so it is essential
that Californians have access to copies of their documents.
However, the fact that our state's security paper relies
solely on one company is an enormous risk. AB 1546 will call
upon the State Registrar to study the feasibility of our
state's vital record security measures. To ensure that county
offices can continue to provide citizens with vital records,
this bill will authorize the State Registrar to suspend
security features in an emergency. AB 1546 also allows a local
health registrar to share vital records data with its local
recorder for the purposes of creating and maintaining an index
of issued certificates, and delivering these important
documents quickly and securely to the public. AB 1546 will
bring California's vital records into the 21st century and
ensure that our constituents can receive their most precious
documents.
2)Background. The Office of Vital Records within DPH is charged
with maintaining a uniform system for registration and a
permanent central registry with a comprehensive and continuous
index for all birth, death, fetal death, marriage, and
dissolution certificates registered for vital events which
occur in California, which are over one million events each
year. Certified copies of vital records are available from
DPH, 58 county recorders, and 61 local health jurisdictions.
According to DPH, it maintains, and can provide, birth and
death records from 1905 to the present. For marriage records,
DPH maintains and can provide those from 1946 to the present,
with some years excluded. At the local level, birth and death
records for current-year events and one year prior are
available from the county health department; records for all
years are maintained by the county recorder. Public marriage
records may be obtained from the county recorder; confidential
marriage records are available only through the county clerk
of the county where the license was issued.
3)Printing of vital records. California statute requires vital
records to be printed on chemically sensitized security paper
AB 1546 (Olsen) Page 4 of ?
containing nine specific security features [as specified in 4)
of "Existing law" above]. In early 2015, DPH and local
jurisdictions were aware of only one company (Sekuworks) in
the U.S. that manufactured paper which met the security
requirement for vital records, specifically, intaglio
printing. "Intaglio printing" is a security feature in which
the image is incised into a surface, and the incised line or
sunken area holds the ink. In June 2015 Sekuworks unexpectedly
shut down operations. Local jurisdictions and DPH were unable
to immediately find another company within the U.S. capable of
printing suitably secure paper. However, paper with
appropriate security features was purchased for these purposes
from a Canadian company, Canadian Bank Note. However, later
that month, VeriTrack, Inc. announced it had purchased the
security label and vital documents production equipment,
including intaglio printing, formerly owned by Sekuworks, and
was able to begin producing custom intaglio printed documents
and labels, anti-counterfeit & tamper-indicating labels, tapes
& seals in October 2015. According to DPH, all jurisdictions
either out or in short supply received supplies of banknote
security paper in October and November 2015 from either
Canadian Bank Note or VeriTrack. While the shortage of
banknote security has been mitigated, it has raised concerns
among the sponsors of this bill, the California State
Association of Counties and the County Recorders Association
of California, that reliance on a very small number of
companies for the state's security paper could pose a serious
future risk.
4)Related legislation. AB 1238 (Linder), permits, if a request
for a certified copy of a birth, death, or marriage record is
made electronically, an official to accept an electronic
acknowledgment verifying the identity of the requestor using a
remote identity proofing process to ensure the requester is an
authorized person. AB 1238 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
5)Support. The California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials writes that when the lone company capable of
supplying paper with intaglio print closed its doors,
California counties discovered the vulnerability that exists
in attempting to comply with the current requirements. The
California State Association of Counties writes that
California is only one of two states which require intaglio
printing, and when Sekuworks closed, the counties were left
with declining amounts of secure paper and limited options for
AB 1546 (Olsen) Page 5 of ?
purchasing more. The County Recorders' Association of
California state that the sudden closure of the only business
in the U.S. to produce Intaglio print paper left California's
local governments scrambling to produce vital records paper
that meets the state's mandated security standards, and the
delay in identifying a vendor to provide the certificate paper
resulted in some counties having to limit the number of
certificates that customers could purchase. The Rural County
Representatives of California writes that while counties have
been able to secure temporary resolution, this bill would help
to provide a permanent solution to this problem. The Health
Officers Association of California writes that though the
shortage has been resolved, this disruption of services
exposed a vulnerability in California's vital records system,
and relying on one company to produce these security papers is
a tremendous risk.
6)Oppose unless amended. DPH writes that this bill includes an
urgency clause to ensure individuals have access to their
vital records in an emergency banknotes shortage; however, the
original basis for the declaration or urgency statute has been
alleviated, and the jurisdictions in California that were
impacted by the banknote paper shortage have since received
supplies of banknote. DPH requests two amendments, described
below, to permit them to act quickly in unforeseen banknote
shortage circumstances and to remove conflicts with privacy
protections around vital records in existing law.
7)Policy comment. It is unclear whether DPH would use the
authority to suspend one or more of the vital records that are
issued. If DPH did allow for the suspension of a security
feature, the lack of a uniform document format during that
time could result in a person's vital record being deemed
unacceptable to agencies that require them for services. The
author may consider, if California is one of only a few states
to still require intaglio print, and there is only one U.S.
manufacturer that makes paper with it, just deleting that
requirement from the law.
8)Amendments. The author has requested that the Committee
approve the following amendments to address concerns raised by
DPH:
a) This bill permits local registrars to release
comprehensive birth and death record indices directly to
county recorders, however currently law permits DPH to
AB 1546 (Olsen) Page 6 of ?
release these indices to government agencies for official
government business, and provides privacy protections.
According to DPH, this provision of this bill conflicts
with privacy protections found in existing law, which
restrict access to the confidential portion of the birth
certificate and confidential electronic birth parent
linkage data contained in the comprehensive birth index
data file. On page 3 beginning on line 15, insert:
The comprehensive birth indices released to the county
recorder shall be subject to the same restrictions as the
confidential portion of a birth certificate in Section
102430.
b) This bill provides DPH the authority to suspend the
use of any security feature to ensure that they, local
registrars, county recorders and county clerks are able
to provide uninterrupted supply of certified copies to
individuals in case of a shortage. DPH is neutral on the
intent of this provision, but points out that as
currently drafted, DPH would be required to seek
emergency regulations to exercise the proposed authority,
which could take up to two years to enact, making it
uncertain if the provision would ever be utilized. DPH
suggests an amendment to permit implementation this
provision administratively, by means of All County Letter
. On page 7, line 23, insert:
(d) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing
with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of
the Government Code), the department may implement and
administer this section through an all-county letter or
similar instructions from the Director or State Registrar
without taking regulatory action.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: California State Association of Counties (cosponsor)
County Recorders Association of California (cosponsor)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
County Health Executives Association of California
County Recorders' Association of California
Health Officers Association of California
Orange County Board of Supervisors
Rural County Representatives of California
AB 1546 (Olsen) Page 7 of ?
Oppose: California Department of Public Health (unless
amended)
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