An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Issuance of and Access to Birth Certificates and Certain Medical Information
Sec. 1. 18-A MRSA §9-310, 2nd ¶, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. C, §7 and affected by Pt. E, §2, is amended to read:
Any medical or genetic information in the court records relating to an adoption must be made available to the adopted child upon reaching the age of 18 person and to the adopted child's person's descendants, adoptive parents or legal guardian on petition of the court.
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §2705, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1989, c. 818, §3, is further amended to read:
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §2765, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. D, §30 and affected by Pt. E, §2, is repealed.
Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §2765, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 601, §20, is further amended to read:
(1) At the request of an adopted person who is at least 18 years of age or of the adoptive parents of an adopted child under 18 years of age, the new certificate must carry a notation that it has been amended, all items that have been revised pursuant to the adoption decree must be identified, and the notation "court action" and the date of the adoption decree must be shown on the new certificate.
(2) If the birth certificate has been annotated pursuant to subparagraph (1), the annotation may be deleted in accordance with department regulations at the request of an adopted person who is at least 18 years of age or of the adoptive parents of an adopted child under 18 years of age.
Sec. 5. 22 MRSA §2765, sub-§3 is repealed.
Sec. 6. 22 MRSA §2765, sub-§5, as amended by PL 2007, c. 409, §3 and affected by §6, is repealed.
Sec. 7. 22 MRSA §2766, as amended by PL 2009, c. 601, §21, is repealed.
Sec. 8. 22 MRSA §2768, first ¶, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 409, §4 and affected by §6, is amended to read:
An adopted person, the adopted person's attorney or, if the adopted person is deceased, the adopted person's descendants may obtain a copy of that person's original certificate of birth if that original certificate of birth is sealed from the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, referred to in this section as "the state registrar," in accordance with this section.
Sec. 9. Effective date. This Act takes effect October 1, 2013.
summary
This bill:
1. Eliminates the current restriction that an adoptee be at least 18 years of age for the court to release medical or genetic information contained in court records relating to the adoption; and
2. Repeals the provisions of law that require that an original birth record of an adoptee be sealed and that a new certificate of birth be created.