SB59 - Change of name or gender and sex identifier.

Senate Bill No. 59 CHAPTER 738 An act to repeal and add Section 103437 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to vital records, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. [ Approved by Governor October 13, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 13, 2025. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 59, Wiener. Change of name or gender and sex identifier. Existing law authorizes a person to file a petition with the superior court seeking a judgment recognizing their change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary, including a person who is under 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes a person to file a single petition to simultaneously change the petitioner’s name and recognize the change to the petitioner’s gender and sex identifier, as specified. Existing law requires that either of those petitions, if filed by a person under 18 years of age, and any papers associated with the proceeding, be kept confidential by the court. Existing law requires the court to limit access to these records to specified individuals, including, among others, the minor, the minor’s parents, and their attorney. This bill would expand the above-described confidentiality protections to other petitioners regardless of age. The bill would also expand these protections to court records associated with a proceeding under separate provisions of existing law for a change of name to conform a petitioner’s name to their gender identity. The bill would require the court to limit access to the court records in these proceedings to certain individuals, as specified. The bill would apply these confidentiality provisions in the case of (1) a petition filed on or after July 1, 2026; (2) a petition filed before July 1, 2026, if the petitioner files a request to keep the records confidential, as specified; or (3) records that were previously made confidential by statute or otherwise. The bill would prohibit a person or private entity, other than the petitioner, from publicly posting one of the above-described confidential records on the internet or otherwise. The bill would make a violation of these confidentiality requirements an injury and, commencing 6 months after the effective date of this bill, would authorize a person or entity to institute proceedings for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or a writ of mandate to enforce them. The bill would require a court to award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a plaintiff who prevails on a cause of action against a private party pursuant to this authority. The bill would also authorize a petitioner who has been harmed by a disclosure or continuing disclosure of records, as specified, to, commencing 6 months after the effective date of this bill, bring a civil action against a person or private entity that caused the harm. The bill would require a person or private entity found liable to pay actual damages or statutory damages, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, as specified. The bill would, on or before July 1, 2026, require the Judicial Council, as necessary, to develop forms and rules to implement the bill’s provisions. Under the bill, nothing in these provisions would preclude a court from granting a motion to seal all court records of a person’s change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, pursuant to a specified California Rule of Court. The bill would state that whether a transgender person’s gender identity conforms with their assigned sex at birth is intimate personal information entitled to protection under the right to privacy, and that a transgender person has a privacy interest in concealing their transgender identity. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations in support of its provisions. The bill would declare that its provisions are severable. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Digest Key Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Transgender and nonbinary people are experiencing a growing epidemic of discrimination, harassment, and violence in California and across the country. (b) According to the Department of Justice, hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias increased by 10.2 percent between 2022 and 2023. (c) According to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, in 2021, transgender people were over four times more likely to experience violent victimization, including rape, assault, and aggravated or simple assault, than their cisgender peers. (d) According to the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey, 30 percent of transgender respondents reported that they were verbally harassed and 39 percent were harassed online in the last 12 months because of their gender identity or expression. (e) Having personally identifying information exposed without their knowledge or consent puts transgender and nonbinary people at greater risk for harassment, discrimination, and violence. (f) Transgender people in California, New York, Washington, and elsewhere have reported harassment and cyberbullying after their personal information was released online. (g) In 2023, California passed Assembly Bill 223 (Chapter 221 of the Statutes of 2023) (Ward), commonly known as the Transgender Youth Privacy Act, which requires courts to keep all court records related to name and gender marker changes for minors confidential. (h) With harassment and violence against transgender and nonbinary people on the rise and a federal administration that is openly hostile to the transgender community, it is imperative for California to expand these protections to safeguard the privacy and safety of all transgender and nonbinary Californians. (i) On October 29, 2024, the Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District of California issued a unanimous decision in In re M.T. (2024) 106 Cal.App.5th 322 (M.T.), a case of first impression. (j) In its decision, the court found that petitioner M.T. had demonstrated that she met the criteria under subdivision (d) of California Rule of Court 2.550 for an order justifying the sealing of records. (k) The criteria for such sealing of records under subdivision (d) of California Rule of Court 2.550 require an express finding by the court of facts that establish “(1) There exists an overriding interest that overcomes the right of public access to the record; (2) The overriding interest supports sealing the record; (3) A substantial probability exists that the overriding interest will be prejudiced if the record is not sealed; (4) The proposed sealing is narrowly tailored; and (5) No less restrictive means exist to achieve the overriding interest.” (l) The court further found that petitioner M.T. cited studies showing transgender people are subject to violence, harassment, and discrimination and that she had provided evidence of harassment specifically directed against her, she had been outed in a social media post that revealed her transgender identity along with other identifying information, she had found her case record to be publicly available online, and she had been the target of transphobic text messages sent to her. (m) The court also concluded in M.T. that “whether a transgender person’s gender identity conforms with their assigned sex at birth is intimate personal information entitled to protection under the right to privacy. A transgender person thus has a privacy interest in concealing their transgender identity” (In re M.T., 106 Cal.App.5th at 341). (n) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to include provisions that would codify the decision of the Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District in M.T. and would clarify the decision’s application in state law. (o) By codifying the Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District’s unanimous ruling in M.T., this act ensures that important privacy protections regarding the sealing of records are available to all transgender individuals at risk of violence, harassment, and discrimination. SEC. 2. Section 103437 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed. SEC. 3. Section 103437 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 103437. (a) As used in this section, “change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both” means a proceeding for a change of gender and sex identifier pursuant to Section 103430, for a combined change of the petitioner’s name and recognition of the change to the petitioner’s gender and sex identifier pursuant to Section 103435, or for a change of name to conform the petitioner’s name to the petitioner’s gender identity pursuant to Title 8 (commencing with Section 1275) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (b) Subject to subdivision (c), all of the following apply: (1) The court records, including the index, register of actions, and any other case information available through court systems used to provide the public with electronic access to court records, associated with a proceeding for a change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, shall be kept confidential by the court. (2) Until the court orders a change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, the court shall limit access to the court records in the proceeding, including the index, register of actions, and any other case information available through court systems used to provide the public with electronic access to court records. Prior to those orders, the court shall not provide access to anyone other than the petitioner, any other person who signed the petition, an individual who is subject to service of an order to show cause related to the petition, any attorney representing those individuals, and any agents acting pursuant to written authorization from those individuals or their attorneys. For a petition brought on behalf of a minor, the court shall limit access prior to an order changing the minor’s name or gender and sex identifier, or both, to the minor subject of the petition, the minor’s parents, guardians, and guardians ad litem, an individual subject to service of an order to show cause related to the petition, any attorney representing those individuals, and any agents acting pursuant to written authorization from those individuals or their attorneys. (3) Upon the court ordering a change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, the court shall limit access to the court records in the proceeding, including the index, register of actions, and any other case information available through court systems used to provide the public with electronic access to court records, to the petitioner, a minor who received a change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, an adult who signed the petition, any attorney representing those individuals, and any agents acting pursuant to written authorization from those individuals or their attorneys. (c) The requirements set forth in subdivision (b) apply if any of the following conditions are met: (1) The petition for change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, is filed on or after July 1, 2026. (2) The court orders the records in the proceeding to be kept confidential. The court shall enter that order if the petitioner in a proceeding for a change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, in which the petition was filed before July 1, 2026, files a request to keep the records in the proceeding confidential. The petitioner may make this request ex parte and without paying a filing fee. The court shall make the request and all associated records confidential. (3) The records in the proceeding were previously made confidential by statute or otherwise. (d) If the petitioner discovers that court records in their proceeding for a change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, are not being kept confidential by the court pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c), the petitioner may apply ex parte for that order, without paying a filing fee, and the court shall enter an order making the records confidential. The court shall make the application and all associated records confidential. (e) Other than the petitioner, a person or private entity shall not publicly post a confidential record pursuant to this section on the internet or otherwise. (f) Any violation of this section constitutes an injury. (g) Commencing six months after the effective date of the act that added this subdivision, a person or entity may institute proceedings for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or a writ of mandate in a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce this section. A court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a plaintiff who prevails on a cause of action against a private party pursuant to this subdivision. (h) (1) In addition to any other sanctions, penalties, or remedies provided by law, commencing six months after the effective date of the act that added this subdivision, a petitioner who has been harmed by a disclosure or continuing disclosure of records by a person or private entity with actual knowledge that those records were made confidential or sealed by the court may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against a person or private entity that caused the harm. A civil action pursuant to this subdivision may be brought by a petitioner or, if the petitioner is a minor, on behalf of a petitioner by the petitioner’s parent, guardian, or guardian ad litem. (2) If a person or private entity is found liable in a cause of action brought pursuant to paragraph (1), the person or private entity shall be liable to the petitioner for all of the following: (A) Actual damages but not less than statutory damages in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000). (B) Punitive damages upon proof of willful or reckless disregard of the law. (C) Reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. (i) On or before July 1, 2026, the Judicial Council shall, as necessary, develop forms and rules to implement this section. (j) Whether a transgender person’s gender identity conforms with their assigned sex at birth is intimate personal information entitled to protection under the right to privacy. A transgender person has a privacy interest in concealing their transgender identity. (k) Nothing in this section shall preclude a court from granting a motion to seal all court records, including the index, register of actions, and any other case information available through court systems used to provide the public with electronic access to court records, of a person’s change of name or gender and sex identifier, or both, pursuant to C [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]