Track Legislation
Position color key: Support Monitor Oppose
Why hasn't this already happened? Can't we just get Congress to amend the Constitution?
Given that federal courts have declined to consider Constitutional arguments in support of access to OBCs and records, it appears unlikely that there will ever be a related amendment to the U.S. Constitution. History shows that state-by-state legislative reform is rarely a "one size fits all" endeavor. The majority party, lobby groups, legislator personal agendas and unrelated legislative priorities all influence potential amendments and outcomes. ARC believes that advocates in each state are the experts on policy or incremental steps for that state. This site is not intended to tell you how to think about any particular bill. Instead, its goal is to provide tools to help you make the decision for yourself.
State
AZ Reintroduced after being one of a bundle of vetoed bills, then quickly passed by both chambers and signed by Governor Ducey as SB1831 6/29.
CT Signed by governor. HB 6105 amended and passed by House 5/4. Passed Senate 5/25.
FL HB 1333/SB1700 filed. Legislature adjourned 4/30.
HB 133/SB122 Baby Box bill amended and passed by House and Senate. Died in Returning messages 4/30.
IA Signed by governor
SSB1040 (renumbered as SF 559) amended and passed unanimously by Senate; HSB226 (renumbered as HF723) passed unanimously by House 4/13
ID H0059 passed House Third Reading 67-0-3. Stalled in Senate.
IN SB 268 passed Senate Third Reading 27-20, assigned to House Judiciary. Legislature adjourned 4/29.
MA HD.1543/SD.1142 Approved by Committee
On calendar in House Health and Gov't Ops 2/25. SB died in floor vote 31N - 16Y.
MN SF328/HF470 - SF328 was amended to include a later effective date, then pulled by sponsor before a committee vote on the bill.
MS SB 2092 died in committee 2/2
SB 2205 passed Senate Third Reading unopposed, then was amended in House Judiciary A and replaced with HB190 language. Died on calendar 3/10.
HB190 died in Judiciary
RI S 0250A - Amended, passed unanimously by Senate and House. Signed by governor 7/8/21
TN HB 62/SB 723 passed unanimously by House and Senate. Signed by Governor.
TX HB 1386 passed by House 144-1. SB 1877 filed 3/12. Session ended with no further action.
UT HB 345 signed after an opt-out bill became an unrestricted bill, then became an opt-in bill.
WI SB 483 / AB 502 Introduced and assigned to respective committees. Senate Committee hearing set for 9/2 postponed.
SB 524 Related bill designed to help descendants of deceased adoptees obtain the OBC
WV SB 50 dead
Introduced, referred to HHR
Image: Billy Hathorn, SC State Senate Chamber
The law must be consonant with life. It cannot and should not ignore broad historical currents of history. Mankind is possessed of no greater urge than to try to understand the age-old questions: “Who am I” “Why am I?” Even now the sands and ashes of the continents are being sifted to find where we made our first step as man. Religions of mankind often include ancestor worship in one way or another. For many the future is blind without a sight of the past.
Those emotions and anxieties that generate our thirst to know the past are not superficial and whimsical. They are real and they are 'good cause' under the law of man and God.
The petition is conditionally granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED
April 9, 1979
[Signed]
WADE S. WEATHERFORD, JR.
Resident Judge, Seventh Judicial
Circuit Court, South Carolina