BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 358 By: Danburg May 8, 1995 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND In some instances, birth records, driver's licenses and or official documents are erroneously marked with the incorrect gender identification. Law enforcement uses driver's licenses to locate citizens, eg death of family member, and to apprehend citizens, eg law violation. When the gender marker is incorrect, law enforcement is uncertain as to the description of the person they are looking for. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.H.B. 358 will add a section in Chapter 45 of the Family Code to fill in the procedural blanks on identification for the benefit of both the individual and law enforcement. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 45B, Family Code, as added by H.B. 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, by adding Section 45.105 as follows: Sec. 45.105. CHANGE OF NAME AND VITAL STATISTICS INFORMATION. (a) Requires the court to order a change of name if petition is accompanied by a sworn affidavit of a physician that petitioner is a gender other than the gender indicated on his or her driver's license, birth certificate, or other official documents. (b) Requires a court ordering a name change under this section to order the Department of Public Safety to change the gender on the petitioner's driver's license and the Department of Health to amend the birth certificate as provided by Section 192.011 of the Health and Safety Code. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 358 has been renumbered to reflect the recodification of Title 2 of the Family Code as enacted by H.B. 655. Also, the original bill required that a name change petition to the court be accompanied by a verified statement from a licensed physician and that the verified statement be sent to the Department of Health to amend the petitioner's birth certificate. The substitute bill changes the language "verified statement" in the original version to "sworn affidavit". SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION H.B. 358 was considered in a public hearing on April 26, 1995. The following persons testified in favor of the bill: Phyllis Randolph Frye, representing Transgender Law Conference; Sarah DePalma, representing It's Time Texas; Tere Frederickson, representing Gender Education & Information Service. The following persons testified neutrally on the bill: Richard Bays, representing Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics; Juathenia Kinney, representing Texas Department of Public Safety. The bill was left pending in committee. In a formal meeting on May 4, 1995, the committee considered a complete substitute which was adopted without objection. H.B. 358 was reported favorably as substituted with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed by a record vote of 6 ayes, 3 nays, 0 pnv, 0 absent.