Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1123 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to facilitate the provision of vital event information by the Department of Health.

The Department of Health and the State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations testified in support of the measure. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Ahupua'a of Kauai submitted comments on the measure.

The Department of Health, upon request, provides certified copies of vital records relating to birth, marriage, divorce, and death for personal, legal, and business transactions. This measure establishes an alternative method of providing vital event information by authorizing the issuance of a document that verifies the existence of a certificate and information contained in the certificate in lieu of a certified copy of the certificate.

Your Committee finds that the use of verifications may be preferable to the use of certified copies of certificates because verifications can be issued more expeditiously and can exclude unnecessary and potentially sensitive information. The issuance of verifications will limit the issuance of certificates that are sometimes used to commit identity fraud and reduce the risk of documents being misused by persons other than those originally receiving the documents. Approval of this measure will not preclude the issuance of certified copies of certificates where necessary or appropriate.

Your Committee has amended this measure to:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1123, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1123, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.