CHAPTER 1. General Provisions [102100. - 102155.]

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC 1.

in effect

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102100. Section 102100.

Each live birth, fetal death, death, and marriage that occurs in the state shall be registered as provided in this part on the prescribed certificate forms. In addition, a report of every judgment of dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or nullity decree shall be filed with the State Registrar, as provided in this part. All confidential information included in birth, fetal death, death, and marriage certificates and reports of dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or nullity that are required to be filed by this part, shall be exempt from the California Public Records Act contained in Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102105. Section 102105.

The department is charged with the uniform and thorough enforcement of this part throughout the state, and may adopt additional regulations for its enforcement.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102110. Section 102110.

The State Registrar shall adopt regulations specifying both of the following: (a) Procedures to assure the confidentiality of the confidential portion of the certificate of live birth, specified in subdivision (b) of Section 102425, and the medical and health report, specified in Section 102445. (b) Procedures regarding access to records required by this part.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102115. Section 102115.

The department may make and enforce regulations for the embalming, cremation, interment, disinterment and transportation of the dead in matters relating to communicable diseases.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102120. Section 102120.

The State Registrar shall inform all local registrars which diseases are to be considered infectious, contagious, or communicable and dangerous to the public health, as decided by the department, in order that when deaths occur in which the diseases are involved, proper precautions may be taken to prevent their spread.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102125. Section 102125.

All certificates of live birth, fetal death, or death shall be written legibly, in durable black ink, and a certificate is not complete and correct that does not supply all of the items of information called for, or satisfactorily account for their omission.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102130. Section 102130.

All marriage licenses shall be written legibly and shall be photographically and micrographically reproducible. A marriage license is not complete and correct that does not supply all of the items of information called for, or satisfactorily account for their omission.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102134. Section 102134.

(a) Beginning no earlier than two years after an appropriation of funds by the Legislature, the State Registrar shall require the use of a diacritical mark on an English letter to be properly recorded, within the name field of a parent or registrant on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, death, marriage license and certificate, or confidential marriage license and certificate. The use of a diacritical mark on an English letter within a name field shall be deemed an acceptable entry on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death, and a marriage license and certificate or confidential marriage license and certificate by the State Registrar. (b) The absence or presence of a diacritical mark on a document listed in subdivision (a) shall not render the document invalid nor affect any constructive notice imparted by proper recordation of the document. (c) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the State Registrar may develop a list of acceptable diacritical marks for use on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death, or a marriage license and certificate or confidential marriage license and certificate, through all-county letters or similar instructions from the State Registrar without taking further regulatory actions. (d) Notwithstanding Section 102140, the State Registrar may remove any diacritical marks on the birth, fetal death, death, and marriage license and certificate data before furnishing the vital statistics relating to birth, death, fetal death, and marriage license and certificates to a federal, state, or local government agency. (e) For purposes of this part, a diacritical mark includes, but is not limited to, accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and cedillas.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102135. Section 102135.

(a) All physicians, informants, funeral directors, clergy, or judges and all other persons having knowledge of the facts, shall supply upon the prescribed forms any information that they possess regarding any birth, fetal death, death, or marriage upon demand of the state or local registrar. (b) All physicians, informants, funeral directors, clergy, judges, public employees, or other persons who supply upon prescribed forms information that they possess regarding any birth, fetal death, death, or marriage shall in no case use a derogatory, demeaning, or colloquial racial or ethnic descriptor.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102140. Section 102140.

No alteration or change in any respect shall be made on any marriage license or certificate after its acceptance for registration by the local registrar, or on other records made in pursuance of this part, except where supplemental information required for statistical purposes is furnished.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102145. Section 102145.

Every person in charge of a hospital or other institution to which persons are admitted for treatment or confinement shall make a record of the personal, medical and other information for each patient sufficient and adequate for the completion of a birth or death certificate.

Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 102155. Section 102155.

“Absence of conflicting information relative to parentage” as used in Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 102625) or Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 103225) means the absence of conflicting information relative to the existence or nonexistence of a parent and child relationship, as this term is defined in subdivision (b) of Section 7601 of the Family Code, and includes entries such as “unknown,” “not given,” “refused to state,” or “obviously fictitious names.”

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026