LegWatch - Winter 1999

California

California activists continue laying the groundwork for the
introduction of adoptee rights legislation in the year 2000. The
Director of CA Open 2000, Ron Morgan, has surveyed legislators on
their opinions of open records legislation and received largely
positive results. California BN members regularly meet in both the
Bay Area and in Southern California. For more information on Open
2000 or BN California meetings, please contact Ron Morgan at
open2000@ryzome.com

Colorado

TxCare Board member and Catholic Charities social worker
Bill Betzen has been lobbying HB 1188. This bill solidifies the
confidential intermediary system for current adoptees and applies
disclosure vetoes to records released in the future. The bill passed
the House and is now pending in the Senate. Please contact your
CO State Senators and tell them you oppose HB 1188, which
would vest birthparents with a right to deny access to adoptees to
the documents of their birth.

Connecticut

Last year, CT BN Director Karen Caffrey introduced SB 522, an
unconditional open records bill, in the CT Senate. The bill was
tabled and a study committee was formed to examine the issue of
open records. In February of 1999, the committee released its
report. We are pleased that the committee acknowledged the right
of adoptees to their records, and the civil liberties issues at the
heart of open records. We applaud the committee for its forward-
thinking analysis. However, we were disappointed that the
committee's final recommendation included a clause that would allow
a birthparent who relinquished between 1977 and 1999 (while
records were sealed) to withhold access of the birth certificate to
the adoptee if they can show good cause in a court of law. No
parent other than those who relinquished adoptees would benefit
from this statute. No other offspring would be subject to having
access to their birth certificate determined by a judge. We decry
the notion that there should be judicial discretion over something
that in fact should be unequivocally unburdened, access to one's
government document of birth. CT triad members should write to
David D. Biklen, Executive Director of the Connecticut Law
Revision Commission, at:

Connecticut Law Revision Commission
State Capitol
Room 509A
Hartford, CT 06106
Tel.: 860-240-0220
FAX: 860-240-0322
Email: lrc@po.state.ct.us

North Carolina

SB 236 is a passive registry bill. The fee for registering is $50.
The adoptee must be 18 before either they or their birth relative can register.
Birthparents and birth siblings are the only birth relatives who can use the registry.
Only the adoptee and the birth relative need register for a match to be made.

Probably the most egregious portion of this bill is not what's in it, but what is happening
behind the scenes. Activists in NC , the NCCAE, report that individuals contacted by a
child they relinquished or their birthparent, are being urged by agency and government
workers to file civil suits against the searching party. In addition to urging lawsuit, current
NC law, passed in 1996, seems to make it a misdemeanor to search independently, and
according to NCCAE threats have been made to increase enforcement once this registry
bill goes into effect. Legislators have been reported to ask how they could make it a crime
to search "on the Internet". NC is well on tis way to becoming the most restrictive state in the
Union for birthparents and adoptees. Individuals are encouraged to write to legislators urging
defeat of this bill, and educating legislators. See the Bastard Nation Action Alert pages for
contact info. and updates.

Oregon

Measure 58, which passed on November 3rd, 1998 in Oregon,
unconditionally opens original birth certificates to adoptees
age 21 or older. The Measure was scheduled to go into effect on
December 3rd. However, Bill Pierce of the National Council for
Adoption instigated a court challenge using several anonymous
birthmothers, who are claiming that the Measure violates their right
to religious freedom and right to privacy, among other things, and
an injunction was put into place barring the law from going into
effect until the case is resolved. Thomas McDermott, attorney for
Measure 58 proponents, filed a motion to intervene and the Judge
granted that motion, giving standing in the case to Chief Petitioner
Helen Hill, among others. Oregon adoptees should contact the
Oregon Department of Vital Records at 503-731-4095 for
information on how to apply for their original birth certificates, as
Vital records is accepting applications and holding onto them until
the injunction is lifted.

Texas

TXCARE, an organization headed by birthmother Alicia Lanier, has
introduced a bill, HB 13, that would give adoptees access to their
original birth certificates. Bastard Nation is pleased that Texas is
the next state to consider unconditional access for adult adoptees.
However, since TxCare has not expressed their intention to withdraw
the bill should veto clauses be added, Bastard Nation cannot at this time
endorse or assist in the TxCare effort. Under pressure from Bastard
Nation, TxCare instituted a survey asking individuals whether the bill
should be pulled if disclosure or contact vetoes were added. Huge
majorities voted to withdraw the bill in the event of a disclosure veto,
and a substantial majority voted to withdraw it in the event of a contact veto.

Nonetheless, the TxCare Board remains divided on the issue; one TxCare Board
member has recently moved to Colorado, where he is working for
Catholic Charities as a social worker and pushing an intermediary/disclosure
veto bill. Unless and until TxCare issues a statement expressing their intent to
pull the bill if vetoes are added, we urge caution in supporting the legislation.

Washington

Activists in Washington re-introduced a bill this legislative session
in the House that would have opened original birth certificates to
adult adoptees. The bill was never filed, and instead a legislator
filed a disclosure veto bill, HB 1784. Quick action on the part of
Washington triad members and Bastard Nation killed the bill so
That it never received a hearing. Washington activists are now
considering their options for the future. If you wish to get involved in
Washington State, please email Julie Dennis at jdennis@absnw.com,
or phone 415-680-2420.

Copyright 1999 Bastard Nation. All rights reserved.

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