| 1 | 1 | | By: Lucio S.B. No. 714 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Filed February 21, 2013; February 25, 2013, |
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| 3 | 3 | | read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; |
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| 4 | 4 | | March 11, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: |
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| 5 | 5 | | Yeas 4, Nays 1; March 11, 2013, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 9 | 9 | | AN ACT |
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| 10 | 10 | | relating to access to birth records of certain adopted children. |
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| 11 | 11 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 12 | 12 | | SECTION 1. Section 192.008, Health and Safety Code, is |
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| 13 | 13 | | amended by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows: |
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| 14 | 14 | | (g) If an adult adoptee who does not know the identity of one |
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| 15 | 15 | | or both parents listed on the person's original birth certificate |
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| 16 | 16 | | applies for access to the person's original birth certificate, the |
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| 17 | 17 | | state registrar shall perform a search of reasonably available |
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| 18 | 18 | | death records to determine if each parent named on the original |
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| 19 | 19 | | birth certificate whose identity is unknown to the adoptee is |
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| 20 | 20 | | deceased. Upon confirmation that each parent named on the original |
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| 21 | 21 | | birth certificate whose identity is unknown to the adoptee is |
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| 22 | 22 | | deceased, the registrar shall provide to the person a noncertified |
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| 23 | 23 | | copy of the person's original birth certificate without a court |
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| 24 | 24 | | order. |
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| 25 | 25 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to an |
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| 26 | 26 | | application for an original birth certificate filed on or after the |
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| 27 | 27 | | effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the suit for |
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| 28 | 28 | | adoption was filed before, on, or after the effective date of this |
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| 29 | 29 | | Act. An application for an original birth certificate filed before |
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| 30 | 30 | | the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on |
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| 31 | 31 | | the date the application was filed, and the former law is continued |
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| 32 | 32 | | in effect for that purpose. |
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| 33 | 33 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |
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| 34 | 34 | | * * * * * |
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