Does Oregon's vital-records confidentiality statute limit public access to marriage records held by county clerks?
Plain-English summary
Oregon's vital-records statute, ORS 432.121, makes it unlawful for any person to disclose "vital records" (including marriage records) except as the statute authorizes, with general public access to marriage records only after 50 years. The State Registrar asked: does this affect marriage records held in county clerks' offices, or only those held by the Center for Health Statistics?
Attorney General Hardy Myers concluded that the restriction reaches both. ORS 432.121(1) makes it unlawful for "any person" (not just the Center) to disclose vital records except as authorized. The definition of "vital records" doesn't depend on which agency holds them. The county clerk is a custodian of vital records and falls within the prohibition. The exception is the book called "Authority to Solemnize Marriages" listing ministers authorized to perform marriages, that's general administrative information, not data tied to a specific marriage, so it's not a "vital record" and remains accessible.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1998. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Common questions
Q: Who can request a marriage record under 50 years old?
A: Only the limited categories of persons and agencies that ORS chapter 432 specifically authorizes. The opinion did not list them, but it emphasized that none of the authorized reasons permit release to the general public of records less than 50 years old. A county clerk cannot hand a recent marriage record to a member of the public who is not an authorized requester.
Q: When does the 50-year confidentiality bar drop?
A: For marriage records, 50 years after the marriage date. For dissolution records, 50 years after dissolution. After that, records are accessible under the Public Records Law (with whatever exemptions still apply, like personal privacy).
Q: Does this cover everything in a county clerk's marriage file?
A: Most of it. The marriage license and record, age affidavits, parental-consent forms, waiver-of-waiting-period forms, and the certificate of solemnization are all marriage certificates or "data related thereto," and so are vital records. The "marriage book" and "record of marriages" maintained by the clerk are also vital records.
Q: What about a list of clergy authorized to officiate?
A: That's not data tied to a specific marriage; it's an administrative list. The AG concluded it's not a "vital record" and remains accessible.
Q: What about a county clerk's electronic database?
A: The statute applies regardless of electronic or paper form. If the data is a marriage certificate or report or related data, the confidentiality limits apply.
Background and statutory framework
The Public Records Law (ORS ch. 192) creates a default right to inspect public records, subject to exemptions. ORS 192.502(9) exempts records made confidential by other Oregon law, which is the bridge to ORS 432.121.
ORS 432.121 is the operative provision. Subsection (1) prohibits disclosure of vital records by "any person" except as authorized. Subsection (2) lists authorized disclosures. The 50-year cutoff is in subsection (2)(c). Subsection (5) preserves a health care provider's ability to disclose information from its own records.
ORS 432.095 extends the confidentiality framework to certificates and reports in the custody of "any other custodian of vital records" beyond the Center, including county clerks. The combined effect: the prohibition reaches county clerks' marriage records as much as the state Center's.
Citations and references
Statutes:
- ORS 432.005, definitions
- ORS 432.095, applicability to other custodians
- ORS 432.121, vital records disclosure rules
- ORS 192.410, 192.420, 192.502, Public Records Law
- ORS 106.041 to 106.180, marriage statutes
Cases:
- PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 859 P2d 1143 (1993), interpretive method
- Jones v. Hoss, 132 Or 175, 285 P 205 (1930), plain meaning rule
Source
- Landing page: https://www.doj.state.or.us/oregon-department-of-justice/office-of-the-attorney-general/attorney-general-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://www.doj.state.or.us/wp-content/uploads/1998/03/op8255.pdf
Original opinion text
March 9, 1998
No. 8255
This opinion is issued in response to a question from Edward Johnson II, State Registrar, Center for Health Statistics,
Oregon Health Division, concerning ORS 432.121.
QUESTION PRESENTED
Does ORS 432.121 affect the public's access to marriage records filed in a county clerk's office?
ANSWER GIVEN
ORS 432.121 prohibits or limits access to marriage records less than 50 years old filed in a county clerk's office to all but a
few categories of persons and agencies set forth in that statute.
DISCUSSION
The Public Records Law, ORS chapter 192, confers a right on any person to inspect any public record of a public body in
Oregon, subject to certain exceptions and limitations. ORS 192.420 states that "[e]very person has a right to inspect any
public record of a public body in this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by ORS 192.501 to 192.505." ORS
192.410(3) includes in its definition of a "public body" every county governing body or agency thereof. "Public record" as
defined in ORS 192.410(4) "includes any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public's business,
including but not limited to court records."
ORS 192.502(9) exempts from disclosure "[p]ublic records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or
restricted or otherwise made confidential or privileged under Oregon law." Thus, the question is whether ORS 432.121
prohibits or restricts the disclosure of marriage records filed in a county clerk's office such that they are exempted from
disclosure under the Public Records Law.
ORS 432.121 states in relevant part:
(1) To protect the integrity of vital records and vital reports, to ensure their proper use and to ensure the
efficient and proper administration of the system of vital statistics, it shall be unlawful for any person to
permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital records or in vital reports or to copy or
issue a copy of all or part of any such record or report unless authorized by this chapter and by rules
adopted pursuant thereto or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction. Rules adopted under this section
shall provide for adequate standards of security and confidentiality of vital records and vital reports.
(2) The State Registrar of the Center for Health Statistics shall authorize the inspection, disclosure and
copying of the information referred to in subsection (1) of this section as follows:
(c) When * * * 50 years have elapsed after the date of * * * marriage or dissolution of marriage.
(Emphasis added.) This statute establishes a general rule that disclosure of vital records by any person is unlawful unless
otherwise specifically authorized. None of the authorized reasons for release of vital records permit disclosure to the
general public of records that are less than 50 years old.(1)
In order to determine the public's ability to access marriage records filed in the county clerk's office, we first must
determine whether they are "vital records."(2) "Vital records" are defined as "certificates or reports of birth, death,
marriage, dissolution of marriage and data related thereto." ORS 432.005(14). This definition of vital records makes no
distinction as to their location.
The marriage records filed in a county clerk's office might include (in either an electronic or paper form): a Department of
Human Resources, Health Division License and Record of Marriage form;(3) an affidavit or other type of proof of the age
of one or both of the applicants as set forth in ORS 106.050; a form for the waiver of the statutory three-day waiting period
as set forth in ORS 106.077; a form for the consent to the marriage of a minor by the minor's parent or guardian as set
forth in ORS 106.060; and a certificate of solemnization as set forth in ORS 106.170(2).(4)
In addition to the above-mentioned documents which are "filed" in a county clerk's office, there are other marriage-related
documents and information that a county clerk may have or create. These include (in either an electronic or paper form): a
"marriage book" as set forth in ORS 106.100; a "record of marriages" as set forth in ORS 106.180; and a book entitled
"Authority to Solemnize Marriages" as set forth in ORS 106.120(2), which lists those ministers who are authorized to
solemnize a marriage.
The documents listed above are required by law. It would be impossible for this opinion to address all of the various
documents that a clerk's office might possess or create in addition to those expressly required by law. Therefore, we will
discuss only the documents listed above.
Whether or not these documents are "vital records" depends upon whether the documents are "certificates or reports" of
marriage or "data related thereto." Given the plain meaning of "data related thereto," we believe that, with one exception,
all of the documents listed above are either marriage certificates or reports or "data related" to the marriage certificates or
reports and therefore would be "vital records." Unlike each of the other documents, the list of ministers in the book entitled
"Authority to Solemnize Marriages" is not data pertaining to a specific marriage certificate or report of a specific marriage.
Because this list contains information about who may solemnize marriages generally, we do not believe that it is data
related to marriage certificates or reports within the meaning of ORS 432.121 any more than a list of judicial officers
within the county, who may also solemnize marriages, ORS 106.120(1), would be data related to marriage certificates or
reports.
Having determined that, except for the list of ministers, the marriage records described above are "vital records" for
purposes of ORS 432.121, we next consider whether the restrictions on disclosure apply to such records filed or
maintained in the county clerk's office. It has been suggested that because ORS 432.005(5) defines "file" as the
presentation and acceptance of a vital record "by the Center for Health Statistics" (Center), the prohibitions in ORS
432.121 apply only to marriage records accepted and filed by the Center. Although the definition of "file" may distinguish
between the filing of records with a county clerk and the filing of records with the Center, that distinction is irrelevant to
the definition of "vital records," which makes no reference to records that are "filed." Accordingly, we look to ORS
432.121 to see if its restrictions on the disclosure of vital records are limited only to records in the custody of the Center.
In interpreting a statute, our goal is to discern the intent of the legislature. ORS 174.020; PGE v. Bureau of Labor and
Industries, 317 Or 606, 610, 859 P2d 1143 (1993). We first look at the text and context of the statute, including other
provisions of the same statute and related statutes. In so doing, we consider statutory and judicially developed rules of
construction that bear directly on how to read the text, such as "words of common usage typically should be given their
plain, natural, and ordinary meaning." Id. at 611. If the legislative intent is clear from the text and context of the statute,
the search ends there. Only if the legislative intent is not clear from the text and context will we look to the statute's
legislative history to attempt to discern that intent. Id. at 611-612.
ORS 432.121(1) makes it unlawful for "any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital
records * * * unless authorized by" ORS chapter 432. The term "person" is not defined in ORS chapter 432. The plain
meaning of "person" is "an individual human being." Websters Third New International Dictionary 1686 (unabridged
1993). ORS 432.121(1) does not differentiate between persons in the county clerk's office and persons in the Center; it
makes unlawful the disclosure of vital records by any person unless authorized by ORS chapter 432.
This interpretation is bolstered by other provisions of ORS 432.121. ORS 432.121(5) provides that
Nothing in this section shall prohibit a health care provider from disclosing information contained in the
provider's records as otherwise allowed by law.
This exclusion from the prohibition on disclosure of vital records would be unnecessary if ORS 432.121(1) applied only to
the records in the custody of the Center.
The context of ORS 432.121(1) also includes other related statutes. One such statute is ORS 432.095, which states:
The provisions of [ORS chapter 432] regarding the copying, inspection, disclosure or furnishing of vital
records and vital reports also apply to all certificates or reports of birth, death, marriage, dissolution of
marriage, fetal death, induced termination of pregnancy and suicide attempt by a person under 18 years of
age received prior to October 4, 1997, by the Vital Statistics Unit or in the custody of any other custodian
of vital records.
ORS 432.095 (emphasis added). This statute clarifies that the prohibition on "copying, inspection, disclosure or furnishing
of vital records" applies to certificates and reports of marriage received by the Vital Statistics Unit (now known as the
Center for Health Statistics) before October 4, 1997,(5)
and also to such certificates and reports "in the custody of any other custodian of vital records." A county clerk is a
custodian of vital records.(6) Accordingly, this statute makes the prohibitions on copying, inspection, disclosure or
furnishing of vital records applicable to marriage certificates in the custody of the county clerks.
ORS 432.095 does not address all "vital records" in the custody of custodians of vital records other than the Center, but
only "certificates and reports." Merely because ORS 432.095 prohibits disclosure of only a subset of the vital records that
are in the custody of county clerks, however, we do not believe that we may interpret the prohibition in ORS 432.121(1) as
applying to the remaining vital records only when they are in the custody of the Center. By its terms, ORS 432.121(1)
makes unlawful the disclosure of all vital records by "any person." Nothing in ORS 432.095 either limits the application of
ORS 432.121(1) only to the Center or authorizes the disclosure of records by county clerks.
The legislative intent is clear from the text and context of the statutes.(7) ORS 432.121(1) prohibits any person from
disclosing any vital records except as expressly authorized by ORS chapter 432. This prohibition applies to the marriage
certificates and "data related thereto" that are required by law to be filed or maintained in a county clerk's office. ORS
chapter 432 does not authorize the release of such records to the general public by a county clerk's office, except for
marriage records that are at least 50 years old. Accordingly, it is our opinion that ORS 432.121 restricts the public's access
to marriage certificates and data related thereto that are required by law to be filed or maintained in a county clerk's
office.(8)
The Oregon Department of Justice does not act as legal counsel to the counties of this state. They are entitled to seek and
rely upon advice from their own attorneys. The legal opinions stated herein are given solely for your use and benefit.
HARDY MYERS
Attorney General