Bill Text: NY A03439 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires a certified copy or certified transcript of a birth record, death record, certificate of marriage, or certificate of dissolution of marriage to be issued to the child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of a deceased person upon request; removes requirement for such individuals to obtain a court order for issuance of such records.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-27 - referred to health [A03439 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A03439-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3439 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 27, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring a certi- fied copy or certified transcript of a birth record, death record, certificate of marriage, or certificate of dissolution of marriage to be issued to the child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of a deceased person upon request The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 4173 of the public health law, as 2 amended by section 30 of part L of chapter 56 of the laws of 2015, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 2. A certified copy or certified transcript of a birth record shall be 5 issued only upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or upon a 6 specific request therefor by the person, if eighteen years of age or 7 more, or by a parent or other lawful representative of the person to 8 whom the record of birth relates including an authorized representative 9 of the office of children and family services or a local social services 10 district if the person is in the care and custody or custody and guardi- 11 anship of such entity. A certified copy or certified transcript of a 12 birth record of a deceased person shall be issued only upon order of a 13 court of competent jurisdiction, or upon a specific request therefor by 14 a parent, lawful representative, child, grandchild, or great-grandchild 15 of such deceased person to whom such record of birth relates. 16 § 2. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (g) of subdivision 1 of section 4174 of 17 the public health law, paragraph (a) as amended by chapter 15 of the 18 laws of 2024, paragraph (b) as amended by section 31 of part L of chap- 19 ter 56 of the laws of 2015, and paragraph (g) as amended by chapter 396 20 of the laws of 1989, are amended and a new paragraph (h) is added to 21 read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD06712-01-5A. 3439 2 1 (a) upon request, issue to any applicant either a certified copy or a 2 certified transcript of the record of any death registered under the 3 provisions of this chapter (1) when a documented medical need has been 4 demonstrated, (2) when a documented need to establish a legal right or 5 claim has been demonstrated, (3) when needed for medical or scientific 6 research approved by the commissioner, (4) when needed for statistical 7 or epidemiological purposes approved by the commissioner, (5) upon 8 specific request by municipal, state or federal agencies for statistical 9 or official purposes, (6) upon specific request of the agent charged 10 with controlling disposition of a decedent's remains, as designated 11 pursuant to subdivision three of section four thousand two hundred one 12 of this chapter, spouse, domestic partners as defined in paragraph (c) 13 of subdivision one of section four thousand two hundred one of this 14 chapter, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings, or[,] 15 parents of the deceased or the lawful representative of such persons, or 16 (7) pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction on a 17 showing of necessity; except no certified copy or certified transcript 18 of a death record shall be subject to disclosure under article six of 19 the public officers law; 20 (b) issue certified copies or certified transcripts of birth certif- 21 icates only (1) upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (2) 22 upon specific request therefor by the person, if eighteen years of age 23 or more, or by a parent or other lawful representative of the person, to 24 whom the record of birth relates including authorized representatives of 25 a local social services district if the person is in the care and custo- 26 dy or custody and guardianship of such district, or (3) in the case of a 27 certified copy or certified transcript of a birth certificate of a 28 deceased person, upon specific request therefor by a parent or other 29 lawful representative, child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of such 30 deceased person to whom such record of birth relates, or (4) upon 31 specific request therefor by a department of a state or the federal 32 government of the United States; 33 (g) upon request of a board of elections, issue certification of 34 death[.]; 35 (h) upon request of the child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of a 36 deceased person, issue a certified copy or certified transcript of a 37 certificate of marriage to which such deceased person was a party. 38 § 3. Section 4139 of the public health law is amended by adding a new 39 subdivision 5-a to read as follows: 40 5-a. Where both parties to a certificate of dissolution of a marriage 41 are deceased, the commissioner shall issue such certificate, upon 42 request, to a child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of either such 43 party. 44 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
