STAND. COM. REP. NO.  6-16

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

 

RE:   H.B. No. 939

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 939 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AMENDING IDENTITY OF REGISTRANT'S PARENT ON A BIRTH CERTIFICATE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify that amendments to birth certificates to change or establish the identity of a registrant's parents may be made by the Department of Health only pursuant to a court order or the legal establishment of parenthood in accordance with the Uniform Parentage Act and not as a correction to a personal record under the Uniform Information Practices Act.

 

     The Department of the Attorney General, Department of Health, and Office of Information Practices testified in support of the measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Health's authority to amend the identity of parents on a registrant's birth certificate is subject to the requirements for establishing parentage contained in chapter 584, Hawaii Revised Statutes. This type of amendment is not a correction to a personal record under chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, because it affects the rights and duties associated with a parental relationship.  This measure increases the accuracy of the State's vital records and protects the due process rights of the people affected by an amendment of parentage on a birth certificate.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 939 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair