South Dakotans are on pace to spend $600,000 more than last year on certified copies of birth and marriage certificates as new federal rules are forcing people to prove their identity before getting a driver’s license.
At county Register of Deeds offices throughout the state, $15 requests for copies of marriage certificates are up 144 percent through June compared to the first six months of 2009. Birth certificate copies, which also cost $15, have increased 67 percent.
The state Office of Data, Statistics and Vital Records has no way of knowing why people are getting those documents, but there’s little doubt it’s tied to the federal REAL ID Act. the law, which went into effect Jan. 1, requires people getting driver’s licenses to document every name change since birth.
“I think that’s a direct correlation,” said Minnehaha County Register of Deeds Julie Risty, whose marriage certificate copies are up 122 percent and birth certificate copies are up 61 percent.
The rules, which came in response to national concerns about immigration and identity theft, have caught many off guard. State officials have estimated that one-third of those who show up at licensing bureaus don’t have the necessary documentation.
“We’ve had a mixture of comments,” Risty said. “Some have been somewhat frustrated. Others (accept that) this is what we need to do to make sure that everyone complies by the same rules.”
The rules are especially burdensome for women, who typically change their names when they get married.
“The females are saying, ‘All my husband needs is a birth certificate, and here I have to get all this other stuff,’ ” said Kathy Hill, Lincoln County register of deeds.
Sandy Bruns of Renner might have more work to do than anyone else when she renews her license in 2012. Born in California, her name changed at age 11 when her stepfather adopted her, and she has been married four times.
Bruns learned that to document her initial name change, she must petition a judge to open the adoption court file. Then she’ll need copies of each marriage certificate at $15 apiece, plus divorce decrees for each of those.
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“It’s going to be hard, if not impossible, to prove that I was born in Lodi, California, in 1959,” Bruns said. “This is unbelievable that I have to go through this as a U.S. citizen.”
Jane Schrank, driver’s licensing program assistant, doesn’t expect the rules will cause problems for many adopted people. most people who were adopted already have had their birth certificates amended to reflect the new name, she said.
Passports also can act as a shortcut for showing a chain of name changes, she said.
In Lincoln County, Hill said her customers generally have taken the new requirements in stride. Some even find humor in the bureaucratic circle of documentation: a prerequisite to getting a copy of one’s birth certificate is showing a personal ID card – a driver’s license, for example.
“They think it’s ironic,” Hill said.
Bruns doesn’t see the humor. she has received a letter from the governor’s office explaining the law and a phone call from the state licensing office assuring her they would try to help so she doesn’t have to drive without a valid license.
Still, she sees the new rules as discriminating against adopted people and unduly expensive for women who have remarried.
“I’ve had kind of a rough life, but I’m proud of who I am,” Bruns said. “If that’s breaking the law, there’s going to be a lot of people walking.”
Reach reporter Josh Verges at 331-2335.
Drivers’ need for documentation boosts state coffers
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