Substitute Senate Bill No. 301
PUBLIC ACT NO. 96-258
AN ACT CONCERNING ACCESS TO GENEALOGICAL RECORDS AND THE VALIDATION OF CERTAIN MARRIAGES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-41a of the general statutes, as amended by sections 12 and 21 of public
act 95-257, is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:
All records of vital statistics including births, marriages and deaths in the custody of any registrar of vital
statistics or of the Department of Public Health shall be open for research to any member of a [legally incorporated]
genealogy society INCORPORATED OR AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS OR CONDUCT AFFAIRS IN THIS STATE and such societies
shall be permitted to incorporate statistics derived therefrom in their publications.
Sec. 2. Section 7-51 of the general statutes, as amended by sections 12 and 21 of public act 95-257,
is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:
With the exception of the chief executive officer of the municipality or his authorized agent, the local director
of health, attorneys at law, title examiners and members of [legally incorporated] genealogical societies INCORPORATED
OR AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS OR CONDUCT AFFAIRS IN THIS STATE, no person, except the person whose birth is recorded,
if over eighteen years of age, HIS CHILDREN OR SPOUSE or his parent [or] guardian OR GRANDPARENT if a minor, shall
have any access to or be permitted to examine the original or any copy of the birth certificate or birth record,
of any person, nor shall he disclose any matters contained therein or any information concerning such birth, which
original, copy or information is in the custody of any registrar of vital statistics or of the Department of Public
Health, or shall he be entitled to any copy of any such certificate, record or information, except upon written
order of a court of record or upon written request of a state department or the federal government when approved
by the Department of Public Health.
Sec. 3. Section 7-51a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in
lieu thereof: [Notwithstanding the provisions of section 7-51, persons acting under the direction of a legally
incorporated genealogical society shall be permitted to copy the vital records, including birth, death and marriage
records and their indexes, of any municipality. The provisions of this section shall apply only to those vital
records of a municipality which are not included in the Barbour Collection and which relate to events which occurred
prior to the year 1900. All copies made under the provisions of this section shall be reduced to microfilm and
shall be placed in the custody of the state's Public Records Administrator who
shall make such microfilm copies available to the public for purposes of genealogical research at the State Library.
If any vital records for the periods specified in this section have been microfilmed, the person having custody
of the microfilm negatives shall permit their use for the purposes of this section. No expense arising from activities
permitted under this section shall be paid by the state or any municipality. Nothing in this section shall be construed
to be in derogation of any other right of public access to vital records conferred by any other provision of the
general statutes.] ANY PERSON
EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER MAY PURCHASE COPIES OF MARRIAGE AND DEATH RECORDS, AND COPIES OF RECORDS OF BIRTHS
WHICH ARE AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD, IN THE CUSTODY OF ANY REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS. DURING ALL NORMAL
BUSINESS HOURS, MEMBERS OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES INCORPORATED OR AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS OR CONDUCT AFFAIRS
IN THIS STATE SHALL (1) HAVE FULL ACCESS TO ALL VITAL RECORDS IN THE CUSTODY OF ANY REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS,
INCLUDING CERTIFICATES, LEDGERS, RECORD BOOKS, CARD FILES, INDEXES AND DATABASE PRINTOUTS, EXCEPT CONFIDENTIAL
FILES ON ADOPTIONS, (2) BE PERMITTED TO MAKE NOTES FROM SUCH RECORDS AND (3) BE PERMITTED TO PURCHASE COPIES OF
SUCH RECORDS.
Sec. 4. Section 46b-22a of the general statutes, as amended by section 1 of public act 95-6, is
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:
All marriages, celebrated before [April 13, 1995] THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT, otherwise valid except that the
justice of the peace joining such persons in marriage did not have a valid certificate of qualification, are validated.
Sec. 5. This act shall take effect from its passage, except that sections 1 to 3, inclusive, shall
take effect October 1, 1996.
Approved June 10, 1996. Effective as provided in section 5.
Fairfield County
Fairfield Judicial District Vital Records
202 States St.
Bridgeport, CT 06604-4202
Telephone: (203) 576-7477
Hartford County
Hartford Judicial District
Bureau of Vital Records
550 Main St. Room 10
Hartford, CT 06103
Telephone: (860) 543-8538
Litchfield County
Litchfield Judicial District
P.O. Box 488
Litchfield, CT 06759
Telephone: (860) 567-9461
Middlesex County
Middletown Health Department
P.O. Box 1300
Middletown, CT 06457-1300
Telephone: (860) 344-3477
New Haven County
New Haven Judicial District Vital Records
165 Church St., Room 154
New Haven, CT 06510
Telephone: (203) 946-8084
New London County
New London County
181 State St.
New London, CT 06320
Telephone: (860) 447-5204
Tolland County
Tolland Judicial District
14 Park Place
P.O. Box 245
Vernon, CT 06066-0245
Telephone: (860) 872-8591
Windham County
Windham Judicial District
126 Church St.
Putnam, CT 06260
Telephone: (860) 963-6807
Bloomfield Family History Center
1000 Mountain Road
Bloomfield, CT 06002
(860) 242-1607
Madison Family History Center
275 Warpes Road
Madison, CT 06443
(203) 245-8267
Manchester Family History Center
Woodside St.
Manchester, CT 06040
(860) 643-4003
Mystic Family History Center
1230 Flanders Road
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 536-5102
New Canaan Family History Center
682 South Avenue
New Canaan, CT
(203) 966-1305
Woodbridge Family History Center
990 Racebrook Road
Woodbridge, CT
(203) 387-2012
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Updated 08 February 2005