STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
S. 5168--A A. 7197--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
SENATE - ASSEMBLY
April 12, 2019
___________
IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sens. HOYLMAN, BENJAMIN -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. BUCHWALD, SIMON, BRONSON, WEPRIN,
GOTTFRIED, ORTIZ, EPSTEIN, WOERNER, D'URSO, L. ROSENTHAL, BLAKE,
JAFFEE, ZEBROWSKI, MOSLEY, CRUZ, HYNDMAN, O'DONNELL, PAULIN, ASHBY,
FERNANDEZ, PICHARDO, SAYEGH, GRIFFIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
GALEF -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Oper-
ations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to court recognition
of a change of gender
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 61 of the civil rights law
2 are renumbered subdivisions 6 and 7 and four new subdivisions 2, 3, 4
3 and 5 are added to read as follows:
4 2. The petition to change a petitioner's name may also request that
5 the court recognize and direct a change in the petitioner's gender.
6 Such request shall be accompanied, a) by an affidavit from the petition-
7 er, which affidavit shall be accepted as conclusive proof of gender
8 change if it contains substantially the following language: "I,
9 (petitioner's full name), hereby attest under penalty of perjury that
10 the request for a change in gender to (female, male, or nonbinary) is to
11 conform my legal gender to my gender identity and is not for any fraudu-
12 lent purpose"; and b) certification by a medical professional who has
13 treated the petitioner in the following form: "I, (physician's full
14 name), (physician's medical license or certificate number), (issuing
15 U.S. State/Foreign Country of medical license/certificate), am the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08702-02-9
S. 5168--A 2 A. 7197--A
1 physician of (name of patient), with whom I have a doctor/patient
2 relationship and whom I have treated (or with whom I have a
3 doctor/patient relationship and whose medical history I have reviewed
4 and evaluated). (Name of patient) has had appropriate clinical treatment
5 for gender transition to the new gender (specify male or female). I
6 declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States
7 that the foregoing is true and correct. (Signature) (Typed Name)
8 (Date)".
9 3. A petitioner may make a request for an order recognizing and
10 directing a change in petitioner's gender by motion under the Index
11 Number of an already granted name change.
12 4. A petitioner may make a request for an order recognizing and
13 directing a change in petitioner's gender by in writing, signed by the
14 petitioner and verified in like manner as a pleading in court of record,
15 and shall specify the grounds of the application, the name, date of
16 birth, place of birth, age and residence of the individual whose name is
17 proposed to be changed and the name which he or she proposes to assume.
18 5. Unless a written objection is filed within twenty-eight days of the
19 filing of the petition and shows good cause for opposing a court order
20 recognizing the change of name and/or gender, the court shall grant the
21 petition without a hearing. If an objection is timely filed, the court
22 may set a hearing, at a time designated by the court, only if the
23 objection filed shows good cause for opposing the petition. Objections
24 based solely on concerns over the petitioner's actual gender identity
25 shall not constitute good cause. At the hearing, the court may examine
26 on oath the petitioner and any other person having knowledge of facts
27 relevant to the petition. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court
28 shall grant the petition if the court determines that the petition is
29 not made for any fraudulent purpose.
30 § 2. Section 63 of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 253 of
31 the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
32 § 63. Order. If the court to which the petition is presented is satis-
33 fied thereby, or by the affidavit and certificate presented therewith,
34 that the petition is true, and that there is no reasonable objection to
35 the change of name and/or gender proposed, and if the petition be to
36 change the name and/or gender of an infant, that the interests of the
37 infant will be substantially promoted by the change, the court shall
38 make an order authorizing the petitioner to assume the name and/or
39 gender proposed. The order shall further recite the date and place of
40 birth of the applicant and, if the applicant was born in the state of
41 New York, such order shall set forth the number of his birth certificate
42 or that no birth certificate is available. If a gender change is
43 approved the order shall state that "the term gender as used in this
44 order is inclusive of sex or any other term identifying Petitioner's
45 status as male or female" and that "the Court directs that any govern-
46 ment agency or administrative body amend the sex on Petitioner's docu-
47 ments, including, but not limited to, birth certificate, from
48 (Male/Female) to (Female/Male/Non Binary). It is, therefore, ordered,
49 adjudged and decreed that the sex indicated on Petitioner's documents,
50 including, but not limited to, birth certificate, be changed to
51 (Male/Female/Non Binary). The order may be tailored to meet the require-
52 ments of any specific agency and shall be directed to be entered and the
53 papers on which it was granted to be filed prior to the publication
54 hereinafter directed in the clerk's office of the county in which the
55 petitioner resides if he be an individual, or in the office of the clerk
56 of the civil court of the city of New York if the order be made by that
S. 5168--A 3 A. 7197--A
1 court. Such order shall also direct the publication, at least once,
2 within sixty days after the making of the order, in a designated newspa-
3 per in the county in which the order is directed to be entered and if
4 the petition is made by a person subject to the provisions of subdivi-
5 sion two of section sixty-two of this article, in a designated newspaper
6 in any county wherein such person was convicted if different from the
7 county in which the order is otherwise directed to be entered, of a
8 notice in substantially the following form: Notice is hereby given that
9 an order entered by the ............ court,............ county, on the
10 ...... day of......., bearing Index Number..........., a copy of which
11 may be examined at the office of the clerk, located at
12 ................., in room number......., grants me the right to assume
13 the name of ................... The city and state of my present
14 address are .........................; the month and year of my birth
15 are ................; the place of my birth is ....................; my
16 present name is .................................
17 § 3. Section 64-a of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 241
18 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
19 § 64-a. Exemption from publication requirements. 1. If the court shall
20 find that the publication of an applicant's change of name and/or gender
21 would jeopardize such applicant's personal safety, based on totality of
22 the circumstances the provisions of sections sixty-three and sixty-four
23 of this article requiring publication shall be waived and shall be inap-
24 plicable. Provided, however, the court shall not deny such waiver
25 [soley] solely on the basis that the applicant lacks specific instances
26 of or a personal history of threat to personal safety. The court shall
27 order the records of such change of name proceeding to be sealed, to be
28 opened only by order of the court for good cause shown or at the request
29 of the applicant.
30 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, pending such a finding
31 in subdivision one of this section where an applicant seeks relief under
32 this section, the court shall immediately order the applicant's current
33 name, proposed new name and/or gender, residential and business
34 addresses, telephone numbers, and any other information contained in any
35 pleadings or papers submitted to the court to be safeguarded and sealed
36 in order to prevent their inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure
37 while the matter is pending.
38 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.