Vital records: birth certificates.

Existing law prescribes the duties of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics and local registrars of births and deaths with respect to the registration of a live birth. Under existing law, a certificate of live birth is required to contain, among other things, the full name, birthplace, and date of birth of both the father and mother of a child, except as provided. Existing law provides for the Vital Statistics Advisory Committee, which, among other things, is required to review and make recommendations to the State Registrar as to proposals for addition or deletion of items on the certificate of live birth and advise the State Registrar on the content and format of the certificate. Existing law requires the State Registrar to publish within 30 days of receipt of recommendations by the committee, both a list of the recommendations adopted and a list of the recommendations not adopted, with reasons for the action. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2016, instead require the State Registrar, with regard to identification of the parents, to modify the certificate of live birth to contain 2 lines that both read "Name of Parent" and contain, next to each parent's name, 3 checkboxes with the options of mother, father, and parent to describe the parent's relationship to the child. The bill would also require that all local registrars, deputy registrars, and subregistrars use the modified certificate of live birth, update all forms to incorporate the modification, and discard all forms in use before the modification. The bill would, for a birth occurring prior to January 1, 2016, authorize a parent to amend specified parental titles on the certificate of live birth to the parent relationship designation described above. The bill would require, if the birth mother is listed on the certificate of live birth, the birth mother's name, date of birth, and place of birth to be linked to her medical and social information, and would require that the linkage be confidential, as specified. The bill would make technical and conforming changes.