BILL REQ. #:  H-4486.2 

Read first time 01/20/10.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to access to original birth certificate information for adult adoptees; amending RCW 26.33.330, 26.33.340, 26.33.345, and 26.33.345; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 26.33.330 and 1996 c 243 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) All records of any proceeding under this chapter shall be sealed and shall not be thereafter open to inspection by any person except upon order of the court for good cause shown, or except by using the procedure described in RCW 26.33.343 or 26.33.345. In determining whether good cause exists, the court shall consider any certified statement on file with the department of health as provided in RCW 26.33.347.
     (2) The state registrar of vital statistics may charge a reasonable fee for the review of any of its sealed records.

Sec. 2   RCW 26.33.340 and 1993 c 81 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     Department, agency, and court files regarding an adoption shall be confidential except as provided for in RCW 26.33.345 and except that reasonably available nonidentifying information ((may)) shall be disclosed upon the written request for the information from the adoptive parent, the adoptee, or the birth parent. If the adoption facilitator refuses to disclose nonidentifying information, the individual may petition the superior court. Identifying information may also be disclosed through the procedures described in RCW 26.33.343 and 26.33.345.

Sec. 3   RCW 26.33.345 and 1993 c 81 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department of social and health services, adoption agencies, and independent adoption facilitators shall release the name and location of the court where a relinquishment of parental rights or finalization of an adoption took place to an adult adoptee, a birth parent of an adult adoptee, an adoptive parent, a birth or adoptive grandparent of an adult adoptee, or an adult sibling of an adult adoptee, or the legal guardian of any of these.
     (2) The department of health shall make available a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate of a child to the child's birth parents upon request.
     (3) ((For adoptions finalized after October 1, 1993)) After receiving a request from an adopted person eighteen years of age or older, the department of health shall ((make available)) provide the person with a noncertified copy of the adopted person's original birth certificate ((to the adoptee after the adoptee's eighteenth birthday)), unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure.

Sec. 4   RCW 26.33.345 and 1993 c 81 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department of social and health services, adoption agencies, and independent adoption facilitators shall release the name and location of the court where a relinquishment of parental rights or finalization of an adoption took place to an adult adoptee, a birth parent of an adult adoptee, an adoptive parent, a birth or adoptive grandparent of an adult adoptee, or an adult sibling of an adult adoptee, or the legal guardian of any of these.
     (2) The department of health shall make available a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate of a child to the child's birth parents upon request.
     (3) ((For adoptions finalized after October 1, 1993)) After receiving a request from an adopted person eighteen years of age or older, or the adult child of an adult adopted person, unless the birth parent filed an affidavit of nondisclosure prior to October 1, 2010, the department of health shall ((make available)) provide the person with a noncertified copy of the adopted person's original birth certificate ((to the adoptee after the adoptee's eighteenth birthday unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure)) and a certified copy of the adopted person's adoption decree.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   Section 3 of this act expires October 1, 2010.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   Section 4 of this act takes effect October 1, 2010.