Vital records: birth certificates.

Senator Cervantes, along with principal coauthors Arreguín and Menjivar and supporting colleagues Harabedian, Kalra, and Zbur, advances a measure to add the birthplace of each parent to the confidential medical and social information portion of birth certificates, with the new requirement becoming effective on July 1, 2027. The proposal keeps the public, nonconfidential portion of the birth certificate focused on essential identifiers and timing, while designating the added parental birthplace data as confidential for health-related and limited authorized use, in keeping with privacy considerations stated by the authors.

The public portion of the certificate would continue to include the items necessary to establish the birth, such as the child’s name, sex, date and time of birth, place of birth, and the listed parental identifiers and relationships. The confidential medical and social section would incorporate an additional line for the birthplace of each parent, joining other confidential items such as birthweight, pregnancy history, race and ethnicity, residence address, prenatal care details, gestational age, descriptions of pregnancy and delivery, hearing screening results, parental occupations and education, principal sources of payment for care, and related fields. An objection mechanism allows a parent to withhold certain confidential items—specifically race/ethnicity, occupation, and education—from the confidential portion if they choose. The confidential data would be collected via a physician-completed worksheet, kept separate from the certificate identity, and transferred to the certificate in a manner explained to the parent prior to signing, with the worksheet not submitted to the State Registrar.

Implementation hinges on the State Registrar’s instruction to local registrars to collect and transcribe only the enumerated confidential items, and on physician and designee duties to complete the confidential sections, including the new parental birthplace item beginning in 2027. The certificate would continue to label confidential information for “Public Health Use Only,” with access governed by existing confidentiality provisions. Oversight would involve the Vital Statistics Advisory Committee’s periodic review to align with federal standards and potential legislative updates, subject to approval by the Legislature. The measure does not specify a new appropriation, but anticipates fiscal implications for form updates, system changes, staff training, and privacy-management activities within state and local offices.

From a policy perspective, the bill foregrounds privacy by restricting public access to parental birthplace data and by preserving a distinct confidential portion for health-related information. The changes would affect how birth records are stored, accessed, and governed, and would depend on implementing regulations to define the granularity of birthplace data and the operational workflow for the VS-10A worksheet. It situates the modification within a broader framework that aims to harmonize state practice with federal standards through ongoing advisory review and administrator-led updates, while maintaining a clear separation between verifiable birth-record data available to the public and sensitive information shielded for health purposes.