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A07500 Summary:

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A07500 Floor Votes:

A07500 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         7500--A
 
                               2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      May 22, 2013
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. STECK, GOTTFRIED, SCHIMEL, GALEF -- read once and
          referred  to  the  Committee on Health -- reported and referred to the
          Committee on Codes --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
        AN  ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the establishment

          of an electronic death registration system
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  The  public health law is amended by adding a new section
     2  4148 to read as follows:
     3    § 4148. Electronic death registration system.   1. The  department  is
     4  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  design, implement and maintain an
     5  electronic death registration system for collecting, storing, recording,
     6  transmitting, amending, correcting and  authenticating  information,  as
     7  necessary  and  appropriate  to  complete  a  death registration, and to
     8  generate such documents as determined by the department in relation to a
     9  death occurring in this state.  As part of the design and implementation

    10  of the system established by this section, the department shall  consult
    11  with all persons authorized to use such system to the extent practicable
    12  and  feasible.    The  payment  referenced  in  subdivision five of this
    13  section shall be collected for each burial or removal permit  issued  on
    14  or  after  the  effective date of this section from the licensed funeral
    15  director or undertaker to whom such permit  is  issued,  in  the  manner
    16  specified by the department and shall be used solely for the purpose set
    17  forth  in  subdivision  five  of  this section.   Except as specifically
    18  provided in this section, the existing general duties of, and  remunera-
    19  tion  received by, local registrars in accepting and filing certificates

    20  of death and issuing burial and removal permits pursuant to any  statute
    21  or  regulation  shall  be maintained, and not altered or abridged in any
    22  way by this section.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10525-02-3
        A. 7500--A                          2
 
     1    2. Commencing on the implementation date, the department shall require
     2  that deaths occurring within this state must  be  registered  using  the
     3  electronic  death registration system established in this section. Elec-
     4  tronic death registration may be phased in, as determined by the commis-

     5  sioner,  for  deaths  occurring  in the state until the electronic death
     6  registration system is fully implemented in the state.  As used in  this
     7  section,  "implementation  date"  means  the first day in January in the
     8  second year after this section becomes a law, or as soon  thereafter  as
     9  the  commissioner  reasonably  determines  by  regulation is feasible in
    10  light of the intent of this section.
    11    3. Commencing on the implementation  date,  all  persons  required  to
    12  register  a death or file a certificate of death under this article, and
    13  such others as may be authorized by the commissioner, shall have  access
    14  to  the electronic death registration system for the purpose of entering

    15  information required to execute, complete  and  file  a  certificate  of
    16  death or to retrieve such information or generate documentation from the
    17  electronic death registration system.  The confidentiality provisions in
    18  section  forty-one  hundred  forty-seven  of  this  title shall apply to
    19  information maintained in this system.
    20    4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, commencing on
    21  or after January first, two thousand fifteen, or on such date determined
    22  by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision two  of  this  section,  any
    23  requirement  of this title for a signature of any person shall be deemed
    24  satisfied by the use by such person of digital signature  provided  such

    25  person  is  authorized  in accordance with this section to use the elec-
    26  tronic death registration system.
    27    5. Licensed funeral directors and undertakers shall support the estab-
    28  lishment and maintenance of the  electronic  death  registration  system
    29  through a payment, tendered for each burial and removal permit issued to
    30  a  licensed  funeral  director  or  undertaker,  in the amount of twenty
    31  dollars, provided that such payment shall be considered a cost of opera-
    32  tion and the funeral director or undertaker shall not charge  any  addi-
    33  tional fee related to such payment for funeral or other services.
    34    §  2.  Subdivision  1  of  section 4100-a of the public health law, as
    35  amended by chapter 644 of the laws of 1988, is amended and a new  subdi-

    36  vision 5 is added to read as follows:
    37    1.  The term "certified copy" means a photographic reproduction in the
    38  form of a photocopy or a microfilm print of the original certificate  or
    39  electronically produced print of the original certificate, commencing on
    40  or  after the implementation date under section forty-one hundred forty-
    41  eight of this title, and certified by the commissioner,  his  designated
    42  representative,  a  local registrar [or his deputy], deputy registrar or
    43  sub-registrar as a true copy thereof.
    44    5. The term "electronic death  registration  system"  means  the  data
    45  system created and maintained by the department for collecting, storing,
    46  recording,  transmitting, amending, correcting and authenticating infor-

    47  mation, as necessary and appropriate to complete a  death  registration,
    48  and  to generate such documents as determined by the department, includ-
    49  ing permits or certificates, relating  to  a  death  occurring  in  this
    50  state.
    51    § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 4140 of the public health law is amended
    52  to read as follows:
    53    1. The death of each person who has died in this state shall be regis-
    54  tered  immediately  and  not later than seventy-two hours after death or
    55  the finding of a dead human body, by filing with the  registrar  of  the
    56  district in which the death occurred or the body was found a certificate
        A. 7500--A                          3
 
     1  of  such  death,  [which certificate shall be upon the form] in a manner

     2  and format as  prescribed  by  the  commissioner,  which  shall  include
     3  through  electronic  means  in accordance with section forty-one hundred
     4  forty-eight of this title.
     5    §  4.  Section  4141-a of the public health law, as amended by chapter
     6  153 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
     7    § 4141-a. Death certificate; duties of hospital administrator.  When a
     8  death occurs in a hospital, except in those cases where certificates are
     9  issued by coroners or medical examiners, the person in  charge  of  such
    10  hospital  or his or her designated representative shall promptly present
    11  the certificate to the physician or nurse practitioner in attendance, or
    12  a physician or nurse practitioner acting in his or her behalf, who shall
    13  promptly certify to the facts of death, provide the medical  information

    14  required  by the certificate, sign the medical certificate of death, and
    15  thereupon return such certificate to such person, so that  the  seventy-
    16  two hour registration time limit prescribed in section four thousand one
    17  hundred  forty of this title can be met; provided, however that commenc-
    18  ing on or after the implementation date under section forty-one  hundred
    19  forty-eight  of  this title, information and signatures required by this
    20  section shall be obtained and made in accordance with section  forty-one
    21  hundred forty-eight of this title.
    22    §  5. Section 4142 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
    23  subdivision (e) to read as follows:
    24    (e) notwithstanding any contrary provisions of law as may be set forth
    25  in this section, commencing on or after the  implementation  date  under

    26  section  forty-one  hundred  forty-eight  of this title, information and
    27  signatures required by this subdivision shall be obtained  and  made  in
    28  accordance with section forty-one hundred forty-eight of this title.
    29    §  6.  Paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision  2  and subdivisions 3 and 5 of
    30  section 4144 of the public health law, paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 as
    31  amended by chapter 153 of the laws of  2011,  are  amended  to  read  as
    32  follows:
    33    (b)  Verbal  permission to remove a body of a deceased person from the
    34  county in which death occurred or the body was found to  a  non-adjacent
    35  county  within  the state of New York, as provided in subdivision one of
    36  this section, shall be issued by the said registrar of vital statistics,
    37  upon request by telephone of a licensed funeral director  or  undertaker

    38  who  holds  a  certificate of death signed by the attending physician or
    39  nurse practitioner, or for deaths occurring on or after the  implementa-
    40  tion  date  under  section  forty-one hundred forty-eight of this title,
    41  such certificate of death signed by the  attending  physician  or  nurse
    42  practitioner  is  available  electronically  in  accordance with section
    43  forty-one hundred forty-eight of this  title,  showing  that  the  death
    44  resulted  from  natural  causes  and  was  not  a  result of accidental,
    45  suicidal, homicidal or other external causes.
    46    3. No registrar of vital statistics shall  receive  any  fee  for  the
    47  issuance  of  burial  or  removal  permits  under this chapter except as
    48  referenced by section forty-one hundred forty-eight of  this  title  and

    49  other than the compensation provided in this article.
    50    5.  If  the  interment, or other disposition of the body of a deceased
    51  person is to be made within the state, the  wording  of  the  burial  or
    52  removal  permit may be limited to a statement by the registrar, and over
    53  his signature, that a satisfactory certificate  of  death,  having  been
    54  filed  with  him,  as  required  by law, permission is granted to inter,
    55  remove or otherwise dispose of the body, stating  the  name,  age,  sex,
    56  cause of death, and other necessary details [upon the form prescribed by
        A. 7500--A                          4

     1  the  commissioner]  in  a  manner  and  format as may be required by the
     2  commissioner.
     3    §  7.  Subdivisions  1 and 4 of section 4161 of the public health law,

     4  subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 589 of the laws of 1991 and subdivi-
     5  sion 4 as amended by chapter 153 of the laws of  2011,  are  amended  to
     6  read as follows:
     7    1.  The certificate of fetal death and the report of fetal death shall
     8  contain such information and be in such form  as  the  commissioner  may
     9  prescribe;  provided however that commencing on or after the implementa-
    10  tion date under section forty-one hundred forty-eight of  this  article,
    11  information  and  signatures  required  by  this  subdivision  shall  be
    12  obtained and made in accordance with section  forty-one  hundred  forty-
    13  eight of this article, except that unless requested by the woman neither
    14  the  certificate nor the report of fetal death shall contain the name of
    15  the woman, her social security number or  any  other  information  which

    16  would  permit  her  to be identified except as provided in this subdivi-
    17  sion. The report shall state that a certificate of fetal death was filed
    18  with the commissioner and the date  of  such  filing.  The  commissioner
    19  shall  develop  a  unique,  confidential  identifier  to  be used on the
    20  certificate of fetal death to be used in connection with the exercise of
    21  the commissioner's authority to monitor the quality of care provided  by
    22  any  individual  or entity licensed to perform an abortion in this state
    23  and to permit coordination of data concerning the medical history of the
    24  woman for purposes of conducting  surveillance  scientific  studies  and
    25  research  pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (j) of subdivision one
    26  of section two hundred six of this chapter.
    27    4. When a fetal death occurs in a  hospital,  except  in  those  cases

    28  where  certificates  are  issued  by  coroners or medical examiners, the
    29  person in charge of such hospital or his  or  her  designated  represen-
    30  tative  shall promptly present the certificate to the physician or nurse
    31  practitioner in attendance, or a physician or nurse practitioner  acting
    32  in  his  or her behalf, who shall promptly certify to the facts of birth
    33  and of fetal death, provide the  medical  information  required  by  the
    34  certificate, sign the medical certificate of birth and death, and there-
    35  upon  return  such  certificate  to such person, so that the seventy-two
    36  hour registration time limit prescribed in  section  four  thousand  one
    37  hundred  sixty of this title can be met; provided, however that commenc-
    38  ing on or after the implementation date under section forty-one  hundred

    39  forty-eight of this article, information and signatures required by this
    40  subdivision  shall  be  obtained  and  made  in  accordance with section
    41  forty-one hundred forty-eight of this article.
    42    § 8. Subdivision 3 of section 4171 of the public health law is amended
    43  to read as follows:
    44    3. All certificates, either of birth or death, shall be written  legi-
    45  bly,  in  durable black ink, [and no] provided, however, that commencing
    46  on or after the implementation  date  under  section  forty-one  hundred
    47  forty-eight  of  this  article, death certificates shall be completed in
    48  accordance with section forty-one hundred forty-eight of  this  article.
    49  No  certificate,  whether filed in paper form or death certificate filed

    50  electronically in accordance with section forty-one hundred  forty-eight
    51  of  this article, shall be held to be complete and correct that does not
    52  supply all of the items of information called for therein, or  satisfac-
    53  torily account for their omission.
    54    § 9. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the commis-
    55  sioner  of  health  is  authorized  to  make regulations as necessary to
    56  implement this act.