Legwatch - Spring 2001

Legwatch

Spring 2001

ARKANSAS

A grassroots organization, Arkansans for Adoption Reform (AFAR), was quickly formed in support of Rep. Sandra Rodgers' introduction of HB 1057, a bill which would provide for unconditional adoptee access to original birth certificates. A series of anti-adoptee rights articles and editorials in the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat-Gazette preceded the

bill's failure to get out of committee at the Jan. 25th hearing. Dissension arose among the AFAR group as Rep. Rodgers contemplated adding a disclosure veto to the bill. This was happily averted, but the bill again failed to muster enough votes on March 13 to go to the floor, although it did garner three more votes than it had in Jan. A new group firmly committed to an unconditional adoptee rights bill is beginning the job of preparing for the 2003 legislative session.

Contact Shanna Wells at beatnikluv@earthlink.net or Tammie Biffle at tamtam222@go.com for more information on how to get involved.

CALIFORNIA

California Open2001, a coalition supported by Bastard Nation, AAC, and CUB, is the organizational sponsor of AB 1349, authored by Assemblyman Anthony Pescetti (R-Rancho Cordova). AB 1349 will give California's adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates and adoption decrees from the Office of Vital Records, access to their adoption files from the county clerk's offices, and provides birthmothers an Oregon-style Contact Preference Form. AB 1439 will be heard for the first time before the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 17. CA Open2001 is sponsoring a rally at 8 a.m. the morning of the hearing on the North Steps of the Capitol, featuring an appearance by Oregon's Helen Hill.

Contact Ron Morgan at rhyzome@best.com and visit the California Open 2001 website at http://www.caopen2001.org/

MISSOURI

House Bill 355, which would unconditionally restore the rights of MO-born adoptees to their original birth certificates, has passed its first hurdle with flying colors. The House Children, Families and Health Committee met in executive session on March 13 and passed the adoptee rights bill by a vote of 12-2! It is now awaiting placement on the calendar for a vote of the entire House.

MO Open 2000 has passed the Bastard Nation no-veto resolution and their sponsor has agreed to pull the bill rather than add unacceptable amendments.

Contact Lindsay Woodside at quilter55@yahoo.com or Patti Roderique at

573-483-2993 to get involved. Visit the MO Open 2000 website at http://site.yahoo.com/adoptee-rights for more information.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

A hearing was held in the Child & Family Law Committee on HB 449, an unconditional bill to open adoptees' original birth certificates, on Feb. 14. The hearing room was packed with supporters, and there was little opposition voiced to the bill. It was, however, remanded to a subcommittee for further study, and was recently held over until the fall. A dynamite editorial in favor of the bill in the Concord Monitor on March 13 provided a real boost for the NH effort. The NH group has also passed the no-veto resolution.

To get involved contact Janet Allen at dtjallen@worldpath.net or the NH Open Adoption Records Coalition at PO Box 4165 Concord NH 03302-4165 (603) 878-0699 http://www.NHOARC.com

NEW JERSEY

After a January hearing in the New Jersey Senate Women's Issues, Children and Family Services Committee, an unconditional access bill, S-1932, was combined and substituted with a veto bill, S-2002, as well as with a registry bill, S-300. SCS for S-2002/S-1932/S-300 permits the adoptee to request the original birth certificate, but the birth parent has a

year after the passage of the bill to request that her/his name be deleted or "whited out" from the certificate, essentially creating another "amended" document. In future adoptions the birth parent may make this request between the adoptee's 17th and 18th birthdays. A BN Action Alert was issued to urge legislators to support the unconditional bill. Later, however, when compromise legislation was substituted and accepted, BN issued a second Action Alert in which we urged rejection of this unacceptable compromise.

Read our position paper at:

..documents/Conditional_Access_Legislation.html

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma had three baby abandonment bills before its legislature this session. SB 709 passed the Senate and then passed out of the House Criminal Justice Committee with some amendments. It may go back to the Senate for another vote. HB1122 is back in the House after being passed out of the Senate with some amendments. It is waiting to be brought up for a vote in the House again. HB 1948 has died a quiet death in Rules.

TEXAS

HB 1767, a bill for unconditional adult adoptee access to original birth certificates, has been filed in Texas and is being supported by TxCare, the Texas Coalition for Adoption Reform and Education. The bill at present contains a contact preference provision similar to the one amended to the Oregon and Alabama open records laws. At this time, however, TxCare has not passed the no-veto resolution and has given no sign of intending to do so.

Without assurances that the contact preference provision will not be unacceptably amended, or other unacceptable changes made in the bill, Bastard Nation cannot devote our organizational resources to its passage.

A bill to amend the TX baby dump law to guarantee anonymity for baby dumpers has recently passed out of the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee. Prior versions of the baby dump bill in Texas merely presented an affirmative defense to prosecution for the dumper, but Rep. Morrison wanted to extend complete anonymity for "non-bureaucratic placements" (a phrase coined by Bill Pierce, former NCFA President and prominent baby dump promoter). Bastard Nation urges members to fight the passage of baby dump laws in Texas and in the burgeoning number of states where they are being submitted.

See our Baby Dump Alert page at ..alert/babydump.htm and our statement against legalized anonymous abandonment at

..activism/legalized-abandonment.html

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(This feature appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.)