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