BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2275
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2275 (Ridley-Thomas) - As Amended: April 10, 2014
Policy Committee: HealthVote:19-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the State Registrar, local registrars, or
county recorders to accept electronic verification methods in
order to furnish certified copies of birth, death, or marriage
records.
FISCAL EFFECT
This bill is permissive, thus it does not have direct costs to
the Department of Public Health (DPH). However, allowing the use
of an electronic option results in cost pressure for one-time
Information Technology costs to the DPH to establish secure
electronic verification methodology for vital records (Health
Statistics Special Fund).
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill is intended to allow state and local
officials to use an electronic secure verification mechanism
in lieu of a notarized affidavit of identity. The author
states local agencies have established online systems for
individuals to request vital records, but the legal
requirement for a notarized affidavit poses a barrier to
completing the entire process electronically. The author
indicates this option will be particularly helpful for persons
who may reside overseas, are in the military, or do not have a
valid driver's license or identification such as indigent or
homeless individuals.
2)Support . The County of Los Angeles is the sponsor of this
bill and writes that in 2012, the County's Registrar received
more than 64,000 online requests for vital records, which
AB 2275
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accounted for 22% of all requests for vital records that year.
The County states for every one of these requests the
individual had to separately complete an affidavit of identity
with a notary. The County further states that the current
process is increasingly out of step with trends to increase
access to vital government services through online
technologies and that this bill will streamline the request
process by allowing people the option to complete their
request online without the need to send a separate notarized
affidavit.
Reed Elsevier/LexisNexis writes in support that Cook County,
Illinois has been using electronic notification for records
requests for about eight years and New York City for seven
years.
3)Prior Legislation . AB 464 (Daly), Chapter 78, Statutes of
2013 allows for requests of birth, death, and marriage
certificates using digitized images of a notarized statement.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081