BILL REQ. #:  H-3697.1 

Read first time 01/15/2004.   Referred to Committee on Health Care.

     AN ACT Relating to establishing means of identifying persons requesting copies of birth certificates; and amending RCW 70.58.082.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 70.58.082 and 1997 c 108 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     No person may prepare or issue any birth certificate that purports to be an original, certified copy, or copy of a birth certificate except as authorized in this chapter.
     The department shall adopt rules providing for the release of paper or electronic copies of birth certificate records ((that)). The rules shall include adequate means for determining the proper identity of the person making the request for the release of the record, including a statement of the person's relationship to the person on the record and the presentation of either any photo identification issued to the person by any federal, state, or local government or two forms of nonphotographic identification issued to the person both of which must include the person's signature, adequate assurances the proper record is identified, adequate standards for maintaining the security and confidentiality of the records, ((assure the proper record is identified, and prevent)) and adequate safeguards for preventing fraudulent use of the record((s)). All certified copies of birth certificates in the state must be on paper and in a format provided and approved by the department and must include security features to deter the alteration, counterfeiting, duplication, or simulation without ready detection.
     Federal, state, and local governmental agencies may, upon request and with submission of the appropriate fee, be furnished copies of birth certificates if the birth certificate will be used for the agencies' official duties. The department may enter into agreements with offices of vital statistics outside the state for the transmission of copies of birth certificates to those offices when the birth certificates relate to residents of those jurisdictions and receipt of copies of birth certificates from those offices. The agreement must specify the statistical and administrative purposes for which the birth certificates may be used and must provide instructions for the proper retention and disposition of the copies. Copies of birth certificates that are received by the department from other offices of vital statistics outside the state must be handled as provided under the agreements.
     The department may disclose information that may identify any person named in any birth certificate record for research purposes as provided under chapter 42.48 RCW.