Amended  IN  Senate  September 01, 2017
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 30, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 82

Introduced by Assembly Member Medina
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Limón, McCarty, O'Donnell, O’Donnell, and Reyes)

January 05, 2017

An act to add Section Sections 102134 and 103227 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to vital records.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 82, as amended, Medina. Vital records: diacritical marks.
Existing law prescribes the duties of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics (State Registrar) and local registrars of births and deaths with respect to the registration of certificates of live birth, fetal death, or death, and marriage licenses. Existing law requires the State Registrar to prescribe and furnish all record forms for use in carrying out the provisions governing vital records and prohibits the use of any record form or format other than those prescribed by the State Registrar. Existing law requires every live birth, fetal death, death, and marriage that occurs in the state to be registered with the local registrar. Existing law requires certificates of live birth, fetal death, or death, and a marriage license to include specified information, such as the full name of the child on a certificate of live birth and the full names of the parties to be married on a marriage license.
This bill would require the State Registrar to require the use of diacritical mark on an English letter to be properly recorded, when applicable, on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death, and a marriage license and would require the use of a diacritical mark to be deemed an acceptable entry by the State Registrar. The bill would provide that the absence of a diacritical mark on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death, or a marriage license does not render the document invalid nor affect any constructive notice imparted by proper recordation of the document. The bill would authorize, if a name is not accurately recorded because of the absence of a diacritical mark on an English letter in any certificate of live birth, fetal death, death, or marriage already registered, the person asserting the omission, or the person’s conservator, or if a minor, the person’s parent or guardian, to submit a written request to the State Registrar for the issuance of a new certificate of birth, fetal death, death, or marriage stating the changes necessary to make the name correct. The bill would require the State Registrar to review the request and, if the request is accompanied with the payment of a specified fee, to issue a new certificate of live birth, fetal death, death, or marriage with the accurate name identified in the request.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 102134 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

102134.
 (a) The State Registrar shall require the use of a diacritical mark on an English letter to be properly recorded, when applicable, on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death, and a marriage license. The use of a diacritical mark on an English letter shall be deemed an acceptable entry on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death, and a marriage license by the State Registrar.
(b) The absence of a diacritical mark on a document listed in subdivision (a) shall not render the document invalid nor affect any constructive notice imparted by proper recordation of the document.
(c) For purposes of this section, a diacritical mark includes, but is not limited to, accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and cedillas.

SEC. 2.

 Section 103227 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

103227.
 (a) If a name is not accurately recorded because of the absence of a diacritical mark on an English letter in any certificate of live birth, fetal death, death, or marriage already registered, the person asserting the omission, or the person’s conservator, or if a minor, the person’s parent or guardian, may submit a written request to the State Registrar for the issuance of a new certificate of birth, fetal death, death, or marriage stating the changes necessary to make the name correct.
(b) The State Registrar shall review the request and, if the request is accompanied with the payment of the fee required by Section 103700, shall issue a new certificate of live birth, fetal death, death, or marriage with the accurate name identified in the request.