THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY HANNA, KULA, READSHAW, SOLOBAY, BELFANTI, BRENNAN, CALTAGIRONE, CARROLL, CONKLIN, DePASQUALE, GEORGE, GRUCELA, KORTZ, KOTIK, LONGIETTI, MAHONEY, McILVAINE SMITH, MENSCH, MUNDY, MUSTIO, OBERLANDER, PALLONE, PAYNE, PRESTON, REICHLEY, SIPTROTH AND VULAKOVICH, FEBRUARY 18, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 18, 2009  

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 29, 1953 (P.L.304, No.66), entitled "An

act providing for the administration of a statewide system of

vital statistics; prescribing the functions of the State

Department of Health, the State Advisory Health Board and

local registrars; imposing duties upon coroners,

prothonotaries, clerks of orphans' court, physicians,

midwives and other persons; requiring reports and

certificates for the registration of vital statistics;

regulating the disposition of dead bodies; limiting the

disclosure of records; prescribing the sufficiency of vital

statistics records as evidence; prescribing fees and

penalties; and revising and consolidating the laws relating

thereto," in registration district administration, further

providing for local registrars' duties; in death and fetal

death registrations, further providing for certificates to be

filed and for permits concerning dead bodies and fetal

remains; and in records, further providing for reports to

county registration commissions.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 303 of the act of June 29, 1953 (P.L.304,

No.66), known as the Vital Statistics Law of 1953, amended

October 27, 2006 (P.L.1200, No.129), is amended to read:

Section 303.  Registration Districts: Local Registrars'

Duties.--Local registrars shall perform the duties imposed upon

them by this act, under and subject to the supervision of the

department. Local registrars shall transmit certificates and

transcripts to such places and at such times as shall be

prescribed by the department [and shall transmit, for a person

who was at least eighteen (18) years of age at the time of

death, a copy of the death certificate to the county board of

elections of the county in which the person resided at the time

of death].

Section 2.  Section 501 of the act, amended July 9, 1971

(P.L.213, No.38), is amended to read:

Section 501.  Death and Fetal Death Registration:

Certificates to be Filed.--A certificate of each death or fetal

death which occurs in this Commonwealth shall be filed within

ninety-six (96) hours after the death or fetal death or within

ninety-six (96) hours after the finding of a dead body or fetal

remains. In every instance, the certificate shall be filed prior

to the issuance of a permit for interment or other disposition

of the dead body or fetal remains. The person in charge of

interment or of removal of the dead body or fetal remains from

the registration district shall file the certificate with any

local registrar or the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, who

shall be authorized to issue certified copies of such death.

Section 3.  Section 504 of the act, amended October 27, 2006

(P.L.1200, No.129), is amended to read:

Section 504.  Death and Fetal Death Registration: Permits

Concerning Dead Bodies and Fetal Remains.--No person shall

dispose of a dead body or fetal remains until a local registrar

or the State Registrar of Vital Statistics issues a permit for

disposal. The local registrar or the State Registrar of Vital

Statistics shall be authorized to issue the permit and may issue

blank presigned permits to the funeral director only. The

funeral director or the person in charge of interment or removal

shall, within ninety-six (96) hours after the death or fetal

death or within ninety-six (96) hours after the finding of a

dead body or fetal remains, file with the local registrar a

certificate of death or fetal death.

The sexton or other person in charge of any premises in which

bodies are interred or cremated shall not allow the interment or

cremation of any dead body or fetal remains unless a permit

issued under this section is presented to the sexton. The sexton

or other person in charge of the premises shall endorse upon

each permit presented to the sexton or other person the date of

interment or cremation, over the sexton's or other person's

signature, and shall return the permit so endorsed to the local

registrar of the sexton's or other person's district or the

State Registrar of Vital Statistics within ten days from the

date of interment or cremation.

Section 4.  Section 801.1 of the act, amended November 23,

2004 (P.L.909, No.122), is amended to read:

Section 801.1.  Records: Reports to County Registration

Commissions.--[The department shall report monthly in writing to

the registration commission of each county the deaths of

residents of such counties, except residents less than eighteen

years of age, for the preceding month. Said report shall contain

the full name of the decedent, his or her last address, the date

of his or her birth if available, and the date of his or her

death.] The department shall transmit monthly to the Department

of State an electronic file containing information on all

resident deaths, except residents less than eighteen years of

age, for the preceding month. The electronic file shall include

the full name of the decedent, gender, last address, the date of

birth if available, county of residence, the date of death,

county of death, State file number and the last four digits of

the decedent's Social Security number. The Department of State

shall enter this information into the "sure system" as defined

in 25 Pa.C.S. § 1102 (relating to definitions), or a similar

successor system, which shall be used by the county boards of

election for the purpose of removing deceased individuals from

their voter registration rolls.

Section 5.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.