HB 2438
Initials NM/DC Page 1 Caucus & COW
ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fifty-seventh Legislature
First Regular Session
House: JUD DPA 6-3-0-0
HB 2438: birth certificates; amendments; prohibition
Sponsor: Representative Keshel, LD 17
Caucus & COW
Overview
Prohibits judges pro tempore and commissioners from issuing orders for birth certificate
amendments.
History
Judges pro tempore are temporary judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the Arizona
Supreme Court. Their terms are limited to 12 months. They have the same judicial powers
and responsibilities as regular judges during their term (A.R.S. Title 12, Chapter 1, Article
3).
Superior Court commissioners are attorneys appointed by the presiding judge of a superior
court to perform limited judicial duties. They are not permitted to issue ex-parte orders that
would: 1) deprive a person of child custody; 2) change a person's legal counsel; 3) deprive a
person's liberty; 4) deprive a person or entity of property; or 5) grant injunctive relief (A.R.S.
§ 12-213).
The State Registrar is required to amend a birth certificate under various circumstances,
including:
1) adoption, which would change the parents listed;
2) paternity establishment or change, which would change the father's name;
3) sex change — by a sex change operation or a chromosomal count —, which would
change the sex marker; and
4) court order, which can change any part of the birth certificate as ordered by the judge
(A.R.S. § 36-337).
Provisions
1. Prohibits a judge pro tempore or commissioner from issuing an order to add an
amendment to a birth certificate. (Sec. 1)
2. Makes technical changes. (Sec. 1)
Amendments
Committee on Judiciary
1. Asserts that birth certificates are vital records, and that in order to protect their integrity
and accuracy no amendment may be made to them that is contrary to law.
2. Strikes the ability to amend a birth certificate on the grounds of having received a sex
change operation or having a chromosomal count that establishes the person's sex as
different from that which is listed on the birth certificate.
☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note HB 2438
Initials NM/DC Page 2 Caucus & COW
3. Prohibits changing the sex marker as a result of a sex change surgery.
4. Requires, for any other birth certificate change not explicitly laid out in law, the applicant
to provide evidence to the State Registrar that shows, beyond a reasonable doubt, that
the certificate is factually inaccurate.