Assembly Bill A2691

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to access to birth certificates of persons who have been adopted

download bill text pdf

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2019-A2691 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Assembly Judiciary
Law Section:
Domestic Relations Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §114, Dom Rel L; amd §4132, Pub Health L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:
A5141

2019-A2691 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Grants access to a certified copy of the birth certificate of an adopted person without requiring judicial review; requires such birth certificate to state that the certificate is a certified copy of a sealed record and is not valid for identification with the adoption facts recited.

2019-A2691 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2691
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 25, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  BENEDETTO  --  read once and referred to the
   Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law and the public health law, in
   relation to access to birth records by adoptees
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  Legislative  findings.  The legislature hereby states its
 intention to ensure equal access to vital records  and  end  decades  of
 discrimination  against  adoption  and  adopted persons. The legislature
 finds that an adopted person should have access to his or  her  original
 birth  record in the same manner as a non-adopted person. The provisions
 of this act establish an  absolute  right  under  the  law  for  adopted
 persons to access their birth certificates while referencing the fact of
 their adoption.
   §  2.  Subdivision  2 of section 114 of the domestic relations law, as
 amended by chapter 559 of the laws of 1992 and as designated by  chapter
 601 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  (A)  No  person,  including  the attorney for the adoptive parents
 shall disclose the surname of the child directly or  indirectly  to  the
 adoptive  parents  except  upon  order  of the court. No person shall be
 allowed access to such sealed records and order and  any  index  thereof
 except  upon  an order of a judge or surrogate of the court in which the
 order was made or of a justice  of  the  supreme  court.  No  order  for
 disclosure  or  access  and  inspection  shall be granted except on good
 cause shown and on due notice to the adoptive parents and to such  addi-
 tional  persons  as the court may direct. Nothing contained herein shall
 be deemed to require the state commissioner of  health  or  his  OR  HER
 designee  to  secure a court order authorizing disclosure of information
 contained in adoption or birth records requested pursuant to the author-
 ity of section forty-one hundred  thirty-eight-c  or  section  forty-one
 hundred  thirty-eight-d  of  the  public health law; upon the receipt of

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

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