Solano County's paper shortage delays marriage licenses, death certificates

FAIRFIELD, Calif, (KGO) -- In this world of digital documents, California counties are dealing with a paper problem that could make it difficult for people to get the records they need when they need them.

Solano County is scrambling to come up with birth, death, and marriage certificates because the one company that produced the paper for those documents has gone out of business.

Mark and Melody Moreno said their "I dos" Thursday only to find out they won't have a marriage certificate until late November.

"We're pretty much at the end of the day we'll be down to zero, ah, paper," said Marc Tonnesen the Solano County Recorder.

That paper is called bank note paper with intaglio printing, like the U.S. currency.

"If you look at it, it comes out at you kind of like a 3-D effect. It's very difficult to duplicate and use it for fraud," Tonnesen said.

Trying to duplicate the original, would result in document with the word "void" emblazoned on it.

All state-issued birth, marriage and death certificates are printed on the paper. Every county in California was using one company, Northern Bank Note, out of Ohio. It suddenly went out of business leaving everyone scrambling to find another security printing company.

"We ordered on our regular time frame that we order, but didn't know about the shut down, so we had to make due with what we had," Tonnesen added.

Thirty-five counties have now reached out to Canadian Bank Note in Ottawa, including Solano County.

Solano County has ordered 10,000 bank note papers expected to last for six months at a cost of nearly $27,000. The problem though is that the shipment won't arrive until late November.

The Solano County recorder is asking that people wanting a birth or death certificate go through the county or state health departments. They still have a few of their own bank note papers, but people getting married in the county will have to wait to get theirs until late next month.

"If the paper comes a week, or a month from now, I'm OK with that. I got her, so I'm OK," said Rudy Hornbach, a groom.

Worth the wait.