Sec. 192.002. FORM OF BIRTH CERTIFICATE. (a) The department shall prescribe the form and contents of the birth certificate.

(b) The section of the birth certificate entitled "For Medical and Health Use Only" is not part of the legal birth certificate. Information held by the department under that section of the certificate is confidential. That information may not be released or made public on subpoena or otherwise, except that release may be made for statistical purposes only so that no person, patient, or facility is identified, or to medical personnel of a health care entity, as that term is defined in Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code, or to a faculty member at a medical school, as that term is defined in Section 61.501, Education Code, for statistical or medical research, or to appropriate state or federal agencies for statistical research. The executive commissioner may adopt rules to implement this subsection.

(c) The form must include a space for recording the social security numbers of the mother and father and the signatures of the biological mother and biological father. These social security numbers and signatures are not a part of the legal birth certificate, shall be made available to the agency administering the state's plan under Part D of Title IV of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 651 et seq.), and may not be used or disseminated for any purpose other than the establishment and the enforcement of child support orders.

(d) The social security numbers of the mother and father recorded on the form shall be made available to the United States Social Security Administration.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 25, Sec. 7; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 56, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 556, Sec. 69, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 14.785, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Amended by:

Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1067 (H.B. 3253), Sec. 2, eff. June 14, 2013.

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 3.0545, eff. April 2, 2015.