Legislation 2023 Archives | Bastard Nation

Michigan: On the Winning Track

Marley Greiner — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 16:30:54 +0000

On November 8, less than a month after the bills were introduced, both bills were voted favorable out of the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors. The next day, the House passed both bills, 99-8, and it was transmitted to the Senate. The Michigan legislature, for all intents and purposes, is now in recess so we will have to wait until next year to seal the deal.

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Michigan: Bastard Nation Letter of Support For HB 5148 and HB 5149

Marley Greiner — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 17:35:25 +0000

We support HB5148 a “clean bill” that allows all Michigan-born adoptees, their descendants or legal representatives to obtain the adoptee's original birth certificate without restrictions or conditions upon request at the age of 18, The bill contains a voluntarily optional Contact Preference Form which allows biological parents to record if the would like contact, but does not control the release of the OBC.

We support HB5149 which eliminates current court and Central Adoption Registry control over the release of the OBC. It retains biological parent denial of identifying information requests already on file, BUT that request does not restrict OBC access. No release vetoes can be filed after July 1, 2024.

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July 1, 2023: 2 New States Join the Bastard States of America!

Marley Greiner — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 21:39:12 +0000

On July 1, 2023, Vermont and South Dakota became the latest states to unseal without condition or restriction, the Original Birth Certificates of their state-born adoptees. And there's more to come!

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Minnesota Becomes 15th State to Acknowledge Adoptee Birth Record Equality

Marley Greiner — Fri, 26 May 2023 02:38:56 +0000

Minnesota's long history of sealed records and complicated, confusing, convoluted "rules," including an incomprehensible intermediary system that made it nearly impossible for adoptees to obtain their Original Birth Certificates, ended Wednesday when Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz signed SF2995 an omnibus health bill that contained OBC access provisions. Those provisions came from the earlier stand-alone SF279 stuck in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee for carryover to the next session. The Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform (MCAR) and the Adoptee Rights Law Center directed by Minneapolis attorney Gregory Luce, negotiated with legislative leaders to get the provisions added and onto the floor of both Houses which passed the bill on May 22, 2023, the last day of the session. (Senate: 34-32; House 69-64)

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California AB1302: Bastard Nation Letter of Opposition to House Health Committee

Marley Greiner — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:23:57 +0000

AB1302 is clearly adopteephobic, discriminatory, and frankly bigoted– and it clearly was written with no adoptee input. It has no support from any adoptee rights, adoption reform, or child welfare organization in the country. If this bill were about any other marginalized group and written without any input from them–African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, women, queers, trans, Jews, Muslims, disabled, it would never see the light of day.

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California AB1302: Emergency Action Alert–April 19, 2023 Deadline

Marley Greiner — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 12:42:28 +0000

AB 1302 would create a clumsy, cumbersome, and unduly burdensome TRIPLE notification procedure in the hands of the Department of Health. While no fiscal note is yet attached to the bill, I can imagine the cost in millions will fall on adoptees and other voters in California.

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SB64: The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, March 29, 2023

Marley Greiner — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 18:21:32 +0000

SB64 should have passed the House. The bill was a shoo-in. It had no organized opposition. Even traditional opponents agreed to remain neutral. The bill zipped through the Senate and the House Judiciary Committee unanimously. But then something happened. A small group of politicians found the right of their own state's adopted people to obtain their own Original Birth Certificates “troublesome.” and “problematic,” or something worse. I don't know their objections (I can guess) or who they are, though it is likely that House Speaker Jon Burns was among them. Did at least some of them have “a little something” to hide? Whatever was going on, they decided to keep Class Bastard Georgia in line. If SB64 isn't heard and doesn't exist on the agenda then adoptees don't.

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California AB1302: 2nd Bastard Nation Letter of Opposition

Marley Greiner — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 08:27:39 +0000

I really have no idea what the purpose of this bill is or why it has been brought forward, but it is clearly adopteephobic, discriminatory, and frankly bigoted-- and it clearly was written with no adoptee input. It has no support from any adoptee rights, adoption reform, or child welfare organization in the country. If this bill were about any other marginalized group and written without any input from them--African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, women, queers, trans, Jews, Muslims, disabled, it would never see the light of day.

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California AB1302: Already restrictive adds more restrictions and massive burreaucracy. Act Now!

Marley Greiner — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 04:54:14 +0000

In other words, in order to protect the "privacy" (don't they mean anonymity?) of biological parents from their own offspring, the State of California, upon receipt of an adoptee request for their OBC, would send to the parents at "the best available address" a Registered or Certified letter with restricted receipt requiring a signature, enclosing a notice of the request and a birthparent permission slip. A "reminder notice" will be sent 150 days later, if the original letter generates no response.

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Minnesota SF1279 Moves Along!

Marley Greiner — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 17:39:53 +0000

Yesterday Minnesota SF1279 was voted favorable out of the Senate Judiciary and Public Health Committee. We thought the bill would be held over until 2024, but due to the vagaries of legislation, it was suddently put on the agenda. Bastards are on a roll!

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