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BILL # HB 2267 |
TITLE: S/E: adoption; birth certificate |
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SPONSOR: Payne |
STATUS: As Amended by Senate TPS |
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PREPARED BY: Morgan Dorcheus |
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The bill would require the Department of Health Services (DHS) to provide a copy of an individual's original birth certificate that was sealed due to an adoption if that individual meets certain requirements. In addition, the bill would require the department to develop optional contact preference and medical history forms to be sealed with original birth certificates.
Estimated Impact
The bill would increase ongoing costs to DHS by between $75,000 and $100,000 for additional staff time associated with processing additional requests and filing medical history and contact preference forms, and for additional electronic data storage. In addition, the bill would generate one-time costs for amending vital records systems to release sealed birth records. DHS estimates these costs would be between $500,000 and $1.0 million.
To the extent that the bill reduces the number of sealed records released through court orders, costs to the local courts would decrease. The impact cannot be determined in advance.
Current law prohibits DHS from issuing copies of sealed birth certificates unless required by a court order. The bill would allow DHS to provide a copy of an individual's original birth certificate that was sealed due to an adoption without a court order if that individual is at least 19 years old, was born in Arizona, and submits a written request. The bill would also require DHS to develop optional forms to be sealed with birth certificates to indicate the birth parent's medical history and preference for being contacted.
DHS reports there are approximately 1.2 million sealed birth records currently stored in its vital records system. To the extent that processing sealed birth record requests requires additional staff time and electronic data storage, costs to the department would increase by between $75,000 and $100,000 based on information provided by DHS. The bill would allow DHS to collect fees for processing these requests that that are consistent with existing fees for obtaining a copy of a birth record. In addition, costs may increase on a one-time basis if changes to the department's existing vital records systems are needed to release sealed records. DHS estimates these costs would be between $500,000 and $1.0 million.
Local Government Impact
To the extent that the bill reduces the number of sealed birth certificates released through the court order process, costs to local courts would decrease. The impact cannot be determined in advance.
3/29/19