South Dakota bill may restrict access to vital record.

AuthorSwartz, Nikki
PositionNews, Trends & Analysis

The days of unfettered public access to vital state records may be numbered in South Dakota.

A bill before the state's Senate Health Committee would limit access to birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. Only family members and a few others, such as funeral directors, doctors, and those acting on behalf of families, would be allowed to see such records.

Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records could be obtained only by a spouse, child, parent, guardian, next of kin, or authorized representative. Copies of those records also would be made available to those who need them to determine or protect a property or personal right.

However, the bill would allow birth records to become fully public after 100 years and death, marriage, divorce, and annulment records to become unrestricted after 50 years.

The measure was prompted by identity theft and homeland security threats. The state health department, which keeps vital records, has documented several cases of identity theft, according to Jerry Hofer, the department's administration director. In one instance, a Utah resident obtained a certified copy of a South Dakota birth certificate using information from an obituary and used it to create a false identity in Utah...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT