BILL ANALYSIS
AB 130
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
AB 130 (Jeffries) - As Amended: March 26, 2009
As Proposed to be Amended
SUBJECT : MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES: ACCESS
KEY ISSUE : SIMILAR TO BIRTH AND DEATH RECORDS, SHOULD ACCESS TO
MARRIAGE RECORDS BE LIMITED IN AN EFFORT TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This bill, sponsored by the County Recorders Association of
California, seeks to control the release of and access to
marriage records, similar to existing access restrictions to
birth and death records. This bill does so by limiting
certified copies of marriage records to only authorized
individuals, while providing all others with an informational
only version of the record; and keeping marriage record indices
generally confidential and exempt from the Public Records Act.
According to the author, this bill is necessary to prevent
identity theft by those who would abuse personal information
that is now freely available from marriage records. There is no
known opposition to this measure.
SUMMARY : Seeks to control the release of, and access to,
marriage records. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the State Registrar to keep marriage record indices
confidential and exempt from the Public Records Act, except as
specified.
2)Prohibits marriage files released to the public from
containing the mothers' maiden names.
3)Provides that the State Registrar, local registrar or county
recorder may provide a certified copy of a marriage record to
an authorized person, as defined, who submits a statement
sworn under penalty of perjury that the requester is an
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authorized person. Provides that, in all other cases in which
the requester does not meet the requirements of an authorized
person, a certified copy may be provided to the requester but
the document shall be an informational certified copy and
shall be redacted, as specified. Requires the certified copy
to contain the statement "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT
TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY."
4)Requires that certified copies of marriage records contain
specified information and be printed on sensitized security
paper with specified features, including, among other things,
a watermark, fluorescent security threads, and fluorescent
fibers and requires that the State Registrar, local
registrars, county recorders, and county clerks take
precautions to safeguard the security paper.
5)Requires an applicant for a certified copy of a marriage
record to pay an additional $1 fee, $.65 of which, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, is to be used by the State
Registrar to develop safety and security measures to protect
against fraudulent use of marriage, birth and death records,
and $.35 of which is to be used by the public official charged
with the collection of the fee to defray additional security
costs, as specified.
6)Requires the Vital Records Protection Advisory Committee,
which is studying and making recommendations to protect
individual privacy, inhibit identity theft, and prevent fraud
involving birth and death certificates while still providing
needed access to those records to those seeking them for
legitimate purposes, to include marriage records in its study.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the State Registrar to prepare and maintain
comprehensive and continuous indices of all certificates
registered. Provides that birth and death record indices be
kept confidential and exempt from the Public Records Act,
except as specified. (Health & Safety Code Section 102230.
Unless otherwise stated, all further statutory references are
to that code.)
2)Limits who may have access to birth and death data files and
what may be in those files, including requiring that specified
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personal identifiers, such as mother's maiden name and social
security number, be deleted from files released to the public.
(Section 102231.)
3)Provides that the State Registrar, local registrar or county
recorder may provide a certified copy of a birth or death
record to an authorized person, as defined, who submits a
statement sworn under penalty of perjury that the requester is
an authorized person. Provides that, in all other cases in
which the requester does not meet the requirements of an
authorized person, a certified copy may be provided to the
requester but the document shall be an informational certified
copy and shall be redacted to remove any signatures that
appear on the document. Requires the certified copy to
contain the statement "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO
ESTABLISH IDENTITY." (Section 103526.)
4)Requires that certified copies of birth and death records must
contain specified information and be printed on sensitized
security paper with specified features, including, among other
things, a watermark, fluorescent security threads, and
fluorescent fibers and requires that the State Registrar,
local registrars, county recorders, and county clerks take
precautions to safeguard the security paper. (Section
103526.5.)
5)Requires an applicant for a certified copy of a birth or death
record to pay an additional $1 fee, $.65 of which is, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to be used by the State
Registrar to develop safety and security measures to protect
against fraudulent use of birth and death records, and $.35 of
which is to be used by the public official collecting the fee
to defray additional security costs, as specified. (Section
103525.5.)
6)Requires the State Registrar to appoint a Vital Records
Protection Advisory Committee to study and make
recommendations to protect individual privacy, inhibit
identity theft, and prevent fraud involving birth and death
certificates, while still providing needed access to birth and
death record information to those seeking it for legitimate
purposes. (Section 103527.)
COMMENTS : In order to prevent fraud and identity theft, AB 247
(Speier), Chap. 914, Stats. 2002 and AB 1614 (Speier), Chap.
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712, Stats. 2002, established controls for the release of, and
access to, birth and death records. This bill, sponsored by
County Recorders Association of California, seeks to apply those
same controls to marriage records.
According to the author:
This bill is simply about preventing identity theft.
Currently, any person can purchase an authorized copy
of another [person's] marriage certificate at the
county recorders office. By allowing others to easily
purchase authorized copies of important identification
documents, the system is open to abuse. By purchasing
another [person's] marriage certificate, it is
possible for an opportunist to open a joint checking
account or to take advantage of another [person's]
identity in some devious way. Under current law,
birth and death certificates fall under 'Vital
Records'. These certificates receive higher levels of
protection and only an authorized individual can
purchase an authorized copy. AB 130 will conform
marriage certificates to this higher level of security
by moving marriage certificates into the vital records
area in county recorders offices.
2002 legislation was enacted after sale of birth and death
database prompted need for the measure . In November 2001, it
was reported that the state had sold the birth records of more
than 24 million Californians which were then posted on the
Internet. In response to this revelation, the Senate Insurance
Committee held an informational hearing which demonstrated the
ease with which identity thieves could obtain personal
information about others. That hearing also revealed that the
State Registrar routinely sold electronic compilations of public
record information to anyone who could pay for the records and
that the data were sold with no restrictions on their use. The
records sold covered all births from 1905 to 1995, and included
the county of birth, the person's full name, date of birth and
the person's mother's maiden name. A mother's maiden name and
date of birth are common personal identifiers used by financial
institutions to determine if a person may have access to an
individual account.
This bill restricts access to marriage records . This bill adds
marriage records to the access restrictions that already apply
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to birth and death records. As a result, this bill will protect
access to these records in several ways. First, the bill limits
access to indices of marriage records that the State Registrar
is required to maintain, just as access to the indices of birth
and death records are currently limited. Second, this bill
directs the State Registrar's Vital Records Protection Advisory
Committee, which is studying and making recommendations to
protect individual privacy, inhibit identity theft, and prevent
fraud involving birth and death certificates while still
providing needed access to those records to those seeking them
for legitimate purposes, to include marriage records in its
study.
Finally, and most importantly, only authorized individuals,
including the people getting married, their immediate family,
and law enforcement, may have access to certified copies of
marriage records. All other individuals may be provided with an
informational certified copy, redacted to remove any signatures
that appear on the document, and containing the following
statement: "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH
IDENTITY." The bill also requires that certified copies of
marriage records must contain the same special security features
that certified copies of birth and death records now contain in
order to prevent their alternation and misuse.
Fee Increase : By restricting access to certified copies of
marriage records, this bill requires an applicant for a
certified copy of a marriage record to pay an additional $1 fee,
$.65 of which is to be used by the State Registrar to develop
safety and security measures to protect against fraudulent use
of these records, and $.35 of which is to be used by the public
official collecting the fee to help pay for the additional
security costs. This is the same additional fee that applicants
for certified copies of birth and death records must pay to
defray the costs of the additional security measures for those
documents.
Technical Amendments : In order to carry out the objectives of
the bill, the author has agreed to the following technical
amendments:
1. On page 7, line 14, after the "number." add: Marriage data
files for public release shall not contain the mothers' maiden
names.
2. On page 7, line 17, after "number." add: Marriage data
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files for purposes of law enforcement or preventing fraud shall
include the mothers' maiden name.
3. On page 7, line 17, after "Death" add: and marriage
4. Delete page 7, lines 28-30.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
County Recorders Association of California (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916)
319-2334