Vital records: adoptees' birth certificates.

The document was converted from a plain-text legislative format into a web page layout, adding navigation elements (home, search, bill information links), a date published field, version tracking display, and share/track/favorite options. The underlying statutory language is unchanged.

A new provision requires the contact preference form to include an additional blank space where a birth parent can provide any extra information they choose, beyond the three standard contact preference options.

The contact preference form structure was reorganized: the three contact options (want to be contacted, only through intermediary, do not want to be contacted) were moved from top-level numbered items under subdivision (a) into lettered sub-items (A), (B), (C) under a new (a)(2), with the form availability requirement moved to (a)(1).

Redundant language in Section 102705(g) was corrected from 'Pursuant to Under the California Public Records Act' to simply 'Under the California Public Records Act.'

All housing and rental fee provisions were removed from the bill, including the Fair Rental Act of 2025 (Civil Code Sections 1947.1, 1950.3, and 1950.6). The bill no longer addresses landlord fees, late fee caps, pet fees, parking fees, or application screening fees.

A specific effective date of July 1, 2028 was added for the direct access to original birth certificates by adopted persons and their descendants. A transitional version of Section 102705 maintains the existing court-order process until that date, becoming inoperative on July 1, 2028 and repealed as of January 1, 2029.

The State Registrar must make the contact preference form available to birth parents on or before July 1, 2028.

Requests for an original birth certificate must now be made to the State Registrar only, rather than to either the county or State Registrar as in the prior version.

Section 102645 was amended to remove the exception that allowed adopting parents to request omission of the facility of birth and race/color of parents from the new birth certificate. The new certificate must now be identical to one registered for natural parents with no such exception.

A descendant of a deceased adopted person requesting an original birth certificate must now also be 18 years of age or older. The prior version did not specify an age requirement for descendants.

Entirely new adoption records access component added: amends Civil Code 1798.24, adds Health and Safety Code sections 102620 and 102706, amends sections 102645, 102685, and 102705, and repeals section 102675. This allows adopted persons 18 or older (and descendants of deceased adopted persons) to request their original birth certificate directly from the State Registrar without needing a court order.

New contact preference form (Health and Safety Code 102706) that birth parents can submit to the State Registrar with three options: 'I would like to be contacted,' 'I would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary,' or 'I would prefer not to be contacted at this time.' The form is attached to the original birth certificate and released when the adopted person requests it.

Application screening fee provisions (Civil Code 1950.6) were narrowed: removed references to 'personal reference checks' from the definition of screening, removed 'the reasonable value of time spent by the landlord or their agent in obtaining information on the applicant' from the fee calculation, and removed 'and to validate, review, or otherwise process an application for the rent or lease of residential rental property' from the definition of application screening fee.

Removed the exception in Health and Safety Code 102645 that allowed new birth certificates to omit the facility of birth and race/color of parents when requested by adopting parents. Also repealed section 102675, which had authorized adopting parents to request an amended certificate omitting city/county of birth or color/race of parents.

New definition of 'original birth certificate' added in Health and Safety Code 102620: the birth certificate issued at a live birth that has been sealed pursuant to section 102685 and supplanted pursuant to section 102680.

New disclosure exceptions added to Civil Code 1798.24 (subdivisions q, r, s) specifically authorizing agencies to disclose general background information about biological parents to adopted persons (without revealing identity), original birth certificates to adopted persons or descendants of deceased adopted persons, and medically necessary information to children/grandchildren of adopted persons without revealing the biological parents' identity.