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I just ordered my youngest daughter’s birth certificates from San Bernardino County, CA, to use for a passport and certified copy was required. Why is Hawaii difference?

Did you get the short form or the long form? At one time, last I checked in fact. The State Department would not take California abstract/short form certificates. Apparently they sometimes show the wrong place of birth. For example see: This passport FAQ which states:

You must provide an ORIGINAL copy of your CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATE (no photocopies). The California Certified Abstract of Birth and the Texas Certified Abstract of Birth are NOT ACCEPTED by the U.S. State Department. You may NOT submit a Hospital Birth Record

I'm sure if you told them you wanted it for a passport, they'll have given you the proper version.

However, Hawaii's abstract is acceptable, unless the date of birth and the date accepted by the registrar are a year or more apart. Then you need the long form, and that's true of the abstract from any state, that is otherwise acceptable. Those other states apparently get the critical information correct. Unless the original BC was fraudulent, with that year being an indicator that it might be. A certificate showing a home birth might also be an indicator. That information is not on the abstract, but it is on the original. Even the abstract must be a certified version, that is with raised seal and registrars stamped signature block.

A passport checklist on a pentagon website says:

* Did the applicant submit their original or certified copy of their birth certificate?

o Cannot be an Abstract Birth Certificate from California, Texas, or Georgia.

o Cannot be a notarized or photo copy.

o Cannot be a Hospital Birth Certificate or

Notification of Birth. (NOTE: Some Notifications of Birth are acceptable, refer to citizenship evidence above.

Last week at my local County Clerk's office, I overheard one of the clerks talking to a person in line who was getting a copy of his birth certificate for a passport. Obviously, this piqued my interest.

As it turns out, for Texas anyway, a STATE-issued birth certificate created before 1964 is not acceptable for the purposes of a issuing a passport.

When I asked later, the clerk told me that the COUNTY-issued birth certificates DOES have the necessary information the U.S. State Department seems to be looking for to issue a passport — chiefly a certifying authority who is an independent witness of the birth, as well as the hospital or location of birth. The STATE-issued birth certificate, issued before 1964, does not seem to have this information, and is not accepted by the State Dept to issue a passport.

I suspect that because of the scanning and printing technology that exists, a person could get a copy of an older Texas birth certificate and place their information on it. If the counterfeiter was born in another country (say like just across the border in Mexico), they could attest that their parents gave birth to them at home in remote west Texas. If both parents are dead, and there was no midwife, there is no confirmation possible.

If you look at Obama’s famed birth certificate on the internet, it too lacks the birth witness information (ie, attending physician/midwife and address of birth).

As we've had no independent confirmation from the two hospitals Obama has claimed he may have been born, it understandable why questions linger: