BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 130|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 130
Author: Jeffries (R)
Amended: 6/30/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/23/09
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Florez, Leno, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 8/17/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, Leno, Price, Walters,
Wolk, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock, Oropeza, Runner, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 6/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Vital records: marriage records
SOURCE : County Recorders Association of California
DIGEST : This bill extends the current limitations on the
release and access of birth and death records to marriage
records in order to prevent the unauthorized use of
personal information.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law requires the State Registrar to prepare and
maintain comprehensive and continuous indices of all
certificates registered. Existing law provides that the
comprehensive birth and death record indices be kept
CONTINUED
AB 130
Page
2
confidential and exempt from the Public Records Act, except
as specified. Existing law requires that the State
Registrar prepare and maintain separate noncomprehensive
indices of all birth and death records for public release.
(Health & Safety Code Section 102230.)
Existing law limits access to birth and death data files
and the content of those files, including requiring that
specified personal identifiers, such as mother's maiden
name and social security number, be deleted from files
released to the public. (Health & Safety Code Section
102231.)
Existing law 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.
Existing law 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. Existing law requires the certified copy
to contain the statement "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID
DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY." (Health & Safety Code
Section 103526.)
Existing law 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. (Health & Safety Code Section
103526.5.)
Existing law requires an applicant for a certified copy of
a birth or death record to pay an additional one dollar
fee, sixty-five cents 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 thirty-five
AB 130
Page
3
cents of which is to be used by the public official
collecting the fee to defray additional security costs, as
specified. (Health & Safety Code Section 103525.5.)
Existing law 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. (Health & Safety Code Section
103527.)
This bill requires the State Registrar to keep
comprehensive marriage record indices confidential and
exempt from the Public Records Act, except as specified.
This bill provides that noncomprehensive, nonconfidential
marriage record indices for public release or for
preventing fraud shall be comprised of the name of each
party to the marriage and the date of the marriage.
This bill provides that nonconfidential marriage data files
released to the public shall contain the name of each party
to the marriage and date of the marriage, but shall not
contain the maiden names of the parties' mothers. However,
marriage data files for the purposes of law enforcement or
preventing fraud shall include the mothers' maiden names.
This bill 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 authorized person. This bill 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. This bill requires the certified
copy to contain the statement "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID
DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY."
This bill requires that certified copies of marriage
records contain specified information and be printed on
AB 130
Page
4
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.
This bill requires an applicant for a certified copy of a
marriage record to pay an additional one dollar fee,
sixty-five cents 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
thirty-five cents of which is to be used by the public
official charged with the collection of the fee to defray
additional security costs, as specified.
This bill 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.
This bill states the following, "It is the intent of the
Legislature to protect individual privacy, inhibit identity
theft, and prevent fraud involving marriage certificates
while providing needed access to marriage certificate
information to those seeking it for legitimate purposes.
It is also the intent of the Legislature to protect
marriage certificates in the same manner as other vital
records, including birth and death records."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
AB 130
Page
5
New privacy requirements Unknown;
additional will vary by Local/
for marriage licenses county General
Fee on marriage license copies Fee is
expected to fully offset
Local/
costs
Special*
Add topic to VRPAC study Minor and
absorbable workload Special*
*Health Statistics Special Fund, administered by the State
Registrar
The VRPAC was established by AB247 (Speier), Chapter 914,
Statutes of 2002, and is charged with studying and making
recommendations to protect individual privacy, inhibit
identity theft, and prevent fraud involving birth and death
certificates. This bill adds marriage records to the scope
of its study and privacy recommendations. $.65 of each $1
of the new fee will go to VRPAC (managed by the State
Registrar).
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/19/09)
County Recorders Association of California (source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states,
"Currently, marriage certificates do not enjoy the same
protections as birth and death certificates. Any person
can request any other person's marriage certificate and
they can receive a certified copy. This certified copy is
a valid document to establish identity. There is a large
risk in the system for people to use others' marriage
certificates for identity theft purposes.
"AB 130 moves marriage certificates into the vital records
section in the county recorders offices throughout the
state. This gives marriage certificates an added level of
protection, equivalent to protection enjoyed by death and
birth certificates. Under [AB 130], only an authorized
AB 130
Page
6
person, as defined, can access an authorized copy of a
marriage certificate. An unauthorized person can still
obtain a copy of a marriage certificate, but this copy will
clearly state that it is "Informational: not an authorized
document to establish identity."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block
RJG:do 8/19/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****