RELIGION / JOHN DART : Couples Get License to Skip Blood Tests : Law: State drops requirement for marriage document, but clergy may not be aware of change..

As a result of a little-known change in the law, California no longer requires blood tests for couples seeking a marriage license, thus joining the majority of states that have dropped the requirement.

Syphilis and rubella, which the tests were aimed at detecting, are not the serious health risks they once were, said Gov. Pete Wilson in July when he signed the bill, which became effective Jan. 1.

And the repeal gives the state a chance to fight a bothersome trend--the tendency of more and more couples to opt for “confidential” marriage licenses that leave no trace in state records, a trend that raised the proportion of such licenses to more than half of those issued statewide and two-thirds in Los Angeles County, officials say.

But there is concern in religious circles that most priests and ministers are unaware of the change and will unwittingly put thousands of couples to unneeded trouble and expense.

Members of the public who are warned of the legal change should reap at least two benefits, said Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-Burlingame), who sponsored the legislation.

First, the law should reverse the trend toward so-called confidential marriage licenses, which did not require blood tests.

Designed to save cohabiting couples from the embarrassment of revealing that they were not married, the confidential option allowed them to obtain a license that did not become part of the public record, as ordinary licenses do. Because the lack of a blood test requirement made it more convenient than the standard license, it became increasingly popular, to the detriment of the state’s record-keeping, Speier said.

“It’s in the public interest for people to get a public marriage license for purposes of child support (in the event of a divorce) and to track bigamists,” Speier said.

Second, the change in the law will save the prospective bride and groom money. An administrator at a medical complex in Granada Hills, for example, said the usual blood test charges were $84 for the woman and $36 for the man.

Only women of childbearing age were required to be tested for rubella, or German measles, which can cause physical disabilities in their children. The man and woman both, under the old law, needed to be tested for syphilis, which can be transmitted sexually and cause insanity and death if left untreated.

Avoiding the expense could be important to many couples, Speier said this week. “God knows, they need all they help they can get when they start out.”

But many couples get their initial advice on wedding arrangements from the clergy, who may be largely unaware of the change, said Nancy Stevens of Northridge, president of a Los Angeles-area group of church wedding directors.

“I’m afraid that many clergy will continue to advise couples to get their blood tests, which are now an unnecessary expense,” said Stevens, who directs weddings for Reseda United Methodist Church.

“Our board, in a letter, is urging the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office to let more people know about it.”

Kathy Treggs, manager of records at the recorder’s main office in Norwalk, said that anyone applying for a license at one of the county’s five recorder’s offices will be informed.

However, the county’s round-the-clock recorded message (310-462-2137) that gives detailed information on acquiring birth, death and wedding documents, says nothing about blood tests.

Rabbi Bernard Cohen, director of the interdenominational Clergy Network based in Woodland Hills, said he thought blood tests were still required.

“If I didn’t know about it, I’m sure there are others who don’t,” Cohen said. He said he would report the change in the law in the group’s next newsletter, which goes to about 3,500 clergy and others in the Los Angeles area and Orange County.

California was not in the national forefront of this change. Only about a dozen states still require blood tests for marriage license applicants, according to Assemblywoman Speier.

“Premarital blood testing, once a justifiable tradition, has become anachronistic,” she said, noting that syphilis has been treated effectively by penicillin and that rubella immunization programs for women now reach 95% of the married population.

In addition, with many couples having premarital sex today, they have either already been exposed to a partner’s venereal disease or taken steps to protect the uninfected partner.

That was the thinking behind dropping the blood test requirement for couples who lived together and were eligible for the confidential license.

The trouble was the skyrocketing popularity of the more convenient license. In 1980, they accounted for about 5% of the licenses in the state, but by 1993, the total reached about 55%, said Yolo County Clerk Tony Bernhard.

Bernhard, co-chairman of the legislation committee of the California Assn. of County Clerks, said the group backed repeal of the blood test requirement because the confidential option was being abused.

“The idea behind the confidential license was to solemnize the marriage without public display,” Bernhard said. “But what county clerks were seeing was that when people came to the counter, they would ask for a confidential license instead of a public marriage license--even if they weren’t living together--because they wanted to skip the blood tests.”

In Los Angeles County, Treggs estimated that two confidential licenses were being issued for every regular license in recent years.

Both Bernhard and Treggs said they think more couples will select the public marriage license option now. It is slightly cheaper, at least in Los Angeles County, where a public license is $39 and a confidential license costs $47.25.

The number of locations where couples can obtain licenses in Los Angeles County was greatly reduced in a cost-cutting measure on July 1, 1993, when clerk’s offices at 14 Superior Courthouses stopped issuing them.

Adding to the problems in the early months, the limited number of offices where licenses were available took three days to process applications, said records manager Treggs, forcing couples to make two trips during the often hectic period just before a wedding.

However, Treggs said that licenses are now obtainable, in most cases, on a while-you-wait basis at registrar-recorder offices in Lancaster, Downtown Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, Norwalk and Avalon on Catalina Island.