AB 17

Under current law, at the time a person is adopted the state registrar must

prepare a new birth certificate for the adoptee unless the adoptive parents or the

person being adopted objects. The new birth certificate must contain, among other

information, the names and personal information of the adoptive parents, unless the

court's order of adoption indicates otherwise. When a new certificate is issued, the

original certificate is impounded and may be accessed only by court order, with

permission of the birth parents, or for processing purposes of the state registrar.

This bill allows an adult who has been adopted to petition the court to order the

state registrar to prepare a new birth certificate based on information on the person's

original birth certificate if the person did not have the opportunity, at the time of the

adoption, to request that a new birth certificate not be prepared; the person knows

the identity of each birth parent who is named on his or her original birth certificate;

and each birth parent who is alive and who is named on the person's original birth

certificate does not object to the restoration of the information on the person's

original birth certificate. Under the bill, if the court finds that all of those

circumstances apply, the court must grant the petition. The state registrar must

issue a new birth certificate that uses all of the information from the original birth

certificate, if ordered by the court.

A new birth certificate issued under the bill does not affect the legal

relationship between the adoptive parents and the adoptee and does not restore any

legal rights or legal relationship that terminated at the time of adoption.