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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 248
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 1519
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING AC CESS TO IDENTITY DOCUMENTS BY
HOMELESS YOUTH AND Y OUNG ADULTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-36 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2020): 2
As used in this chapter and sections 19a-40 to 19a-45, inclusive, unless 3
the context otherwise requires: 4
(1) "Registrar of vital statistics" or "registrar" means the registrar of 5
births, marriages, deaths and fetal deaths or any public official charged 6
with the care of returns relating to vital statistics; 7
(2) "Registration" means the process by which vital records are 8
completed, filed and incorporated into the official records of the 9
department; 10
(3) "Institution" means any public or private facility that provides 11
inpatient medical, surgical or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, 12 Raised Bill No. 248
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custodial or domiciliary care, or to which persons are committed by law; 13
(4) "Vital records" means a certificate of birth, death, fetal death or 14
marriage; 15
(5) "Certified copy" means a copy of a birth, death, fetal death or 16
marriage certificate that (A) includes all information on the certificate 17
except such information that is nondisclosable by law, (B) is issued or 18
transmitted by any registrar of vital statistics, (C) includes an attested 19
signature and the raised seal of an authorized person, and (D) if 20
submitted to the department, includes all information required by the 21
commissioner; 22
(6) "Uncertified copy" means a copy of a birth, death, fetal death or 23
marriage certificate that includes all information contained in a certified 24
copy except an original attested signature and a raised seal of an 25
authorized person; 26
(7) "Authenticate" or "authenticated" means to affix to a vital record 27
in paper format the official seal, or to affix to a vital record in electronic 28
format the user identification, password, or other means of electronic 29
identification, as approved by the department, of the creator of the vital 30
record, or the creator's designee, by which affixing the creator of such 31
paper or electronic vital record, or the creator's designee, affirms the 32
integrity of such vital record; 33
(8) "Attest" means to verify a vital record in accordance with the 34
provisions of subdivision (5) of this section; 35
(9) "Correction" means to change or enter new information on a 36
certificate of birth, marriage, death or fetal death, within one year of the 37
date of the vital event recorded in such certificate, in order to accurately 38
reflect the facts existing at the time of the recording of such vital event, 39
where such changes or entries are to correct errors on such certificate 40
due to inaccurate or incomplete information provided by the informant 41
at the time the certificate was prepared, or to correct transcribing, 42
typographical or clerical errors; 43 Raised Bill No. 248
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(10) "Amendment" means to (A) change or enter new information on 44
a certificate of birth, marriage, death or fetal death, more than one year 45
after the date of the vital event recorded in such certificate, in order to 46
accurately reflect the facts existing at the time of the recording of the 47
event, (B) create a replacement certificate of birth for matters pertaining 48
to parentage and gender change, or (C) reflect a legal name change in 49
accordance with section 19a-42 or make a modification to a cause of 50
death; 51
(11) "Acknowledgment of paternity" means to legally acknowledge 52
paternity of a child pursuant to section 46b-172; 53
(12) "Adjudication of paternity" means to legally establish paternity 54
through an order of a court of competent jurisdiction; 55
(13) "Parentage" includes matters relating to adoption, gestational 56
agreements, paternity and maternity; 57
(14) "Department" means the Department of Public Health; 58
(15) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Public Health or the 59
commissioner's designee; 60
(16) "Gestational agreement" means a written agreement for assisted 61
reproduction in which a woman agrees to carry a child to birth for an 62
intended parent or intended parents, which woman contributed no 63
genetic material to the child and which agreement (A) names each party 64
to the agreement and indicates each party's respective obligations under 65
the agreement, (B) is signed by each party to the agreement and the 66
spouse of each such party, if any, and (C) is witnessed by at least two 67
disinterested adults and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by 68
law; 69
(17) "Intended parent" means a party to a gestational agreement who 70
agrees, under the gestational agreement, to be the parent of a child born 71
to a woman by means of assisted reproduction, regardless of whether 72
the party has a genetic relationship to the child; 73 Raised Bill No. 248
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(18) "Foundling" means (A) a child of unknown parentage, or (B) an 74
infant voluntarily surrendered pursuant to the provisions of section 17a-75
58; [and] 76
(19) "Certified homeless youth" means a person who is at least fifteen 77
years of age but less than eighteen years of age, is not in the physical 78
custody of a parent or legal guardian, who is a homeless child or youth, 79
as defined in 42 USC 11434a, as amended from time to time, and who 80
has been certified as homeless by (A) a school district homeless liaison, 81
(B) the director of an emergency shelter program funded by the United 82
States Department of Housing and Urban Development, or the 83
director's designee, [or] (C) the director of a runaway or homeless youth 84
basic center or transitional living program funded by the United States 85
Department of Health and Human Services, or the director's designee, 86
[.] or (D) the director of a program of a nonprofit organization or 87
municipality under contract with the homeless youth program 88
established pursuant to section 17a-62a; and 89
(20) "Certified homeless young adult" means a person at least 90
eighteen years of age but less than twenty-four years of age who has 91
been certified as homeless by (A) the director of an emergency shelter 92
program funded by the United States Department of Housing and 93
Urban Development, or the director's designee, or (B) the director of a 94
transitional living program funded by the United States Department of 95
Health and Human Services, or the director's designee. 96
Sec. 2. Subsection (c) of section 7-51 of the general statutes is repealed 97
and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2020): 98
(c) (1) The registrar of the town in which the birth or fetal death 99
occurred or of the town in which the mother resided at the time of the 100
birth or fetal death, or the department, may issue a certified copy of the 101
certificate of birth or fetal death of any person born in this state that is 102
kept in paper form in the custody of the registrar. Except as provided in 103
subdivision (2) of this subsection, such certificate shall be issued upon 104
the written request of an eligible party listed in subsection (a) of this 105 Raised Bill No. 248
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section. Any registrar of vital statistics in this state with access, as 106
authorized by the department, to the electronic vital records system of 107
the department may issue a certified copy of the electronically filed 108
certificate of birth or fetal death of any person born in this state upon 109
the written request of an eligible party listed in subsection (a) of this 110
section. The registrar and the department shall waive the fee for the 111
issuance of a certified copy of the certificate of birth of a certified 112
homeless young adult to such young adult under this subsection. 113
(2) In the case of a certified homeless youth, such certified homeless 114
youth and the person who is certifying the certified homeless youth as 115
homeless, as described in section 7-36, as amended by this act, shall 116
appear in person when the certified homeless youth is presenting the 117
written request described in subdivision (1) of this subsection at (A) the 118
office of the registrar of the town in which the certified homeless youth 119
was born, (B) the office of the registrar of the town in which the mother 120
of the certified homeless youth resided at the time of the birth, (C) if the 121
birth certificate of the certified homeless youth has been electronically 122
filed, any registrar of vital statistics in the state with access, as 123
authorized by the department, to the electronic vital records system, or 124
(D) the state vital records office of the department. The certified 125
homeless youth shall present to the registrar or the department 126
information sufficient to identify himself or herself as may be required 127
by regulations adopted by the commissioner pursuant to section 7-41. 128
The person who is certifying the certified homeless youth as homeless 129
shall present to the registrar or the department information sufficient to 130
identify himself or herself as meeting the certification requirements of 131
section 7-36, as amended by this act. The registrar and the department 132
shall waive the fee for the issuance of a certified copy of the certificate 133
of birth of a homeless youth to such youth under this subsection. 134
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2020 7-36
Sec. 2 July 1, 2020 7-51(c)
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Statement of Purpose:
To waive the fee for a certified copy of a birth certificate for youth and
young adults who are homeless to enable them to obtain identity
documents for purposes of accessing employment, participating in
community-based programs and obtaining housing and other supports.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]