NY Pub Health L § 4138-E (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 41 - Vital Statistics Title 3 - Registration of Births 4138-E - Adoptee's Right to a Certified Copy of His or Her Birth Certificate.

§  4138-e.  Adoptee's  right  to  a certified copy of his or her birth certificate.  1.  The  legislature  hereby  states  its   intention   to acknowledge,  support  and encourage the life-long health and well-being needs of persons who have been and will be adopted in  this  state.  The legislature further recognizes that the denial of access to accurate and complete  medical and self-identifying data of any adopted person, known and wilfully withheld by others, may result in such person succumbing to preventable disease, premature death or otherwise unhealthy life,  is  a violation of that person's human rights and is contrary to the tenets of government.  As  such,  the provisions of this section seek to establish considerations  under  the  law  for  adopted  persons  equal  to   such considerations permitted by law to all non-adopted persons; this section does  so while providing for the privacy of an adopted person and his or her birth.   2. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commissioner or a local registrar or any person authorized  by  the  commissioner  or  a local  registrar,  upon  application, proof of identity and payment of a nominal fee, shall issue certified copies of original long form line  by line,  vault  copy  birth certificates, including any change attached to that certificate by a birth  parent  or  parents,  and  any  information provided   to   the  commissioner  or  a  local  registrar  pursuant  to subdivision  one  of  section  one  hundred  fourteen  of  the  domestic relations  law,  to  (i)  an adopted person, if eighteen years of age or more, or (ii) if the adopted person is deceased,  the  adopted  person's direct  line  descendants,  or  (iii) the lawful representatives of such adopted person, or  lawful  representatives  of  such  deceased  adopted person's direct line descendants, as the case may be.  (b)  When  it  shall  be  impossible  for  the commissioner or a local registrar to provide a copy of an adult adopted person's  original  long form  birth  certificate  (as may occur in the case of an adopted person born outside of, but adopted within, the state and such  certificate  is not  part  of the records of the commissioner or a local registrar), the true and correct information about the adopted person  and  the  adopted person's  birth  parents,  including their identifying information, that would have appeared on such original birth certificate shall be provided to: (i) the adopted person, if eighteen years of age or more, or (ii) if the adopted  person  is  deceased,  the  adopted  person's  direct  line descendants, or (iii) the lawful representatives of such adopted person, or  lawful representatives of such deceased adopted person's direct line descendants, as the case may be by any authorized agency as  defined  in paragraphs  (a)  and  (b)  of  subdivision  ten of section three hundred seventy-one of the social services law. In such case, the  agency  shall be held harmless from any liability arising out of the disclosure.  (c)  For  purposes  of this subdivision, the term "commissioner" shall include the state commissioner of health, the commissioner of health and mental hygiene of the city of New York and for records of birth prior to January first, nineteen hundred fourteen, the local  registrars  of  the cities of Albany, Buffalo and Yonkers.