By Goolsby                                              H.B. No. 13
         76R1966 MCK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to birth records of adopted children.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 192.008, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 192.008.  BIRTH RECORDS OF ADOPTED PERSON.  (a)  The
 1-7     supplementary birth certificate of an adopted child must be in the
 1-8     names of the adoptive parents, one of whom must be a female, named
 1-9     as the mother, and the other of whom must be a male, named as the
1-10     father.  The only information that may be changed on the
1-11     supplementary birth certificate is the name of the mother, father,
1-12     or child.  [This subsection does not prohibit a single individual,
1-13     male or female, from adopting a child.]  Copies of the child's
1-14     birth certificates or birth records may not disclose that the child
1-15     is adopted.
1-16           (b)  The state registrar may not issue a supplementary birth
1-17     certificate if a court, an adoptive parent, or an adoptee 12 years
1-18     of age or older requests that a supplementary birth certificate not
1-19     be issued.  If the supplementary birth certificate may not be
1-20     issued, the state registrar shall furnish a certified copy of the
1-21     report of adoption.
1-22           (c)  After a supplementary birth certificate of an adopted
1-23     child is filed, information disclosed from the record must be from
1-24     the supplementary certificate.
 2-1           (d) [(c)]  The board shall adopt rules and procedures to
 2-2     ensure that birth records and indexes under the control of the
 2-3     department or local registrars and accessible to the public do not
 2-4     contain information or cross-references through which the
 2-5     confidentiality of adoption placements may be directly or
 2-6     indirectly violated.  The rules and procedures may not interfere
 2-7     with the registries established under Subchapter E, Chapter 162,
 2-8     Family Code, or with a court order under this section.
 2-9           (e) [(d)]  Except as provided by Subsections (f) and (g), any
2-10     [Subsection (e), only the] court of competent jurisdiction [that
2-11     granted the adoption] may order access to [an original birth
2-12     certificate and] the filed documents on which a supplementary
2-13     certificate is based.
2-14           (f) [(e)]  A person applying for access to an original birth
2-15     certificate and the filed documents on which the supplementary
2-16     certificate is based is entitled to know the identity and location
2-17     of the court that granted the adoption, the docket number of the
2-18     adoption suit, the date the adoption order was rendered and, if
2-19     available, the identity and location of the court that rendered the
2-20     termination order, the docket number for the termination suit, and
2-21     the date the termination was rendered.  If that information is not
2-22     on file, the state registrar shall give the person an affidavit
2-23     stating that the information is not on file with the state
2-24     registrar.  Any court of competent jurisdiction to which the person
2-25     presents the affidavit may order [the] access to the documents on
2-26     which the supplementary certificate is based.
2-27           (g)  The state registrar shall provide to a person who was
 3-1     adopted a noncertified copy of the person's original birth
 3-2     certificate if:
 3-3                 (1)  the person is 21 years of age or older;
 3-4                 (2)  a supplementary birth certificate was issued for
 3-5     the person; and
 3-6                 (3)  the person furnishes proof of the person's
 3-7     identity.
 3-8           (h)  Subsection (a)  does not prohibit a single individual,
 3-9     male or female, from adopting a child.
3-10           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-11           (b)  The change in law made by this Act regarding access to
3-12     birth certificate information applies without regard to the date an
3-13     adoption order is rendered.
3-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.