Today, State Reps. Steve Johnson and Vanessa Guerra introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure individuals are charged the same amount to receive a copy of their birth records regardless of the marital status of their parents when they were born.

Currently, anyone who was born before October 1, 1978 to unmarried parents does not have their birth records on file at their county clerk’s office. As a result of this discrimination, they have a more cumbersome process of going to the state to retrieve their vital records, taking them more time and costing them more money because of the circumstances in which they were born.

“This common-sense legislation is about equality,” said Rep. Johnson. “You can’t put a price tag on discrimination. The State of Michigan made a mistake decades ago that left certain people with unequal treatment, we simply need to ensure people are treated fairly.”

The bills would simply allow people who were born to unmarried parents before October 1, 1978 to pay the same price to receive their vital records as people who were born to married parents before 1978 or to any parents after 1978.

“People should not have to pay more to retrieve a copy of their birth certificate because their parents weren’t married when they were born,” said Rep. Guerra “It is time to level the playing field for everyone.”

House Bills 4152 (Rep. Johnson) and 4153 (Rep. Guerra) have been referred to the Family, Children and Seniors Committee for further consideration.

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