Text of ID H 363 (2025)

LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Sixty-eighth Legislature First Regular Session - 2025 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 363 BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AN ACT 1 RELATING TO VITAL STATISTICS; AMENDING SECTION 39-245A, IDAHO CODE, TO RE- 2 VISE PROVISIONS REGARDING CORRECTIONS OR AMENDMENTS TO MATERIAL FACTS 3 ON CERTIFICATES OF BIRTH; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND PROVIDING AN 4 EFFECTIVE DATE. 5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 6 SECTION 1. That Section 39-245A, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 7 amended to read as follows: 8 39-245A. CERTIFICATES OF BIRTH -- MATERIAL FACTS INCLUDED -- AMEND- 9 MENTS. 10 (1)(a) The legislature finds that: 11 (i) There is a compelling interest in maintaining accurate, quan- 12 titative, biology-based material facts on Idaho certificates of 13 birth that provide material facts fundamental to the performance 14 of government functions that secure the public health and safety, 15 including but not limited to identifying public health trends, 16 assessing risks, conducting criminal investigations, and helping 17 individuals determine their biological lineage, citizenship, or 18 susceptibility to genetic disorders; 19 (ii) The equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to 20 the United States constitution prohibits purposeful discrimina- 21 tion, not facially neutral laws of general applicability, such as 22 a biology-based definition of sex that has been consistently ap- 23 plied since our nation's founding; 24 (iii) Decades of court opinion have upheld the argument that bio- 25 logical distinctions between male and female are a matter of sci- 26 entific fact, and biological sex is an objectively defined cate- 27 gory that has obvious, immutable, and distinguishable character- 28 istics; 29 (iv) Identification of biological sex on a birth certificate im- 30 pacts the health and safety of all individuals. For example, the 31 society for evidence-based gender medicine has declared that the 32 conflation of sex and gender in health care is alarming, subjects 33 hundreds of thousands of individuals to the risk of unintended 34 medical harm, and will greatly impede medical research; 35 (v) Vital statistics are defined in section 39-241(21), Idaho 36 Code, as data, being the plural of datum, which is a known fact; 37 (vi) Idaho certificates of birth are of an evidentiary character 38 and prima facie evidence of the facts recited therein, according 39 to section 39-274, Idaho Code; 40 2 (vii) Age and sex, unlike the names of natural parents whose rights 1 have been terminated, are legally applicable facts fundamental to 2 the performance of public and private policies and contracts; 3 (viii) The failure to maintain accurate, quantitative vital sta- 4 tistics and legal definitions upon which the government and others 5 may with confidence rely constitutes a breach of the public trust; 6 and 7 (ix) The government has a compelling interest in maintaining the 8 public trust and confidence and a duty to fulfill, to the best of 9 its ability, those functions that rely on accurate vital statis- 10 tics. 11 (b) Based on the findings in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the leg- 12 islature directs that an Idaho certificate of birth shall document spe- 13 cific quantitative, material facts at the time of birth, as provided in 14 subsection (2) of this section. 15 (2) Any certificate of birth issued under the provisions of this chap- 16 ter shall include the following quantitative statistics and material facts 17 specific to that birth: time of birth, date of birth, sex, birth weight, 18 birth length, and place of birth. 19 (3) For purposes of this chapter, "sex" is as defined in section 73-114, 20 Idaho Code. 21 (4) The quantitative statistics and material facts identified in sub- 22 section (2) of this section may be amended within one (1) year of the filing 23 of the certificate by submitting to the registrar a notarized affidavit of 24 correction that: 25 (a) Is on a form prescribed by the registrar; 26 (b) Is signed by: 27 (i) The parents identified on the certificate of birth; or 28 (ii) The child's legal guardian; 29 (c) Is signed by the physician or other person in attendance who pro- 30 vided the medical information and certified to the facts of birth; and 31 (d) Declares that the information contained on the certificate of birth 32 incorrectly represents a material fact at the time of birth. 33 After one (1) year, the quantitative statistics and material facts 34 identified in subsection (2) of this section may be challenged in court only 35 on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with the burden of 36 proof upon the party challenging the acknowledgment. 37 (5) In those instances in which an individual suffers from a physiolog- 38 ical disorder of sexual development and the individual's biological sex can- 39 not be recognized at birth as male or female based upon externally observable 40 reproductive anatomy, the physician shall make a presumptive determination 41 of the individual's sex, which may thereafter be amended based on the appro- 42 priate combination of genetic analysis and evaluation of the individual's 43 naturally occurring internal and external reproductive anatomy as provided 44 in subsection (4) of this section. 45 (6) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, a 46 hospital may correct a birth certificate for a clerical or data entry error 47 at any time by submitting a notarized affidavit on a form specified by the 48 registrar with any appropriate supporting documentation. 49 3 (7) A certificate of birth with material facts corrected or amended on 1 or after July 1, 2025, shall not be marked "amended" and shall not contain 2 markings identifying the specific correction or amendment. A certificate 3 of birth with material facts corrected or amended shall be identified on the 4 face of the certificate with a C1, C2, et seq., corresponding to the number of 5 corrections or amendments to material facts, and the evidence submitted to 6 document the material fact that was corrected or amended shall be kept in the 7 records of the office of the registrar. Corrections or amendments to mate- 8 rial facts resulting from clerical or data entry errors made by the hospital 9 shall not be marked on the face of the certificate. 10 SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby 11 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after 12 July 1, 2025. 13