Share:
Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | November 22, 2021 10:56 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Bob Mensch and Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Allowing Legislative Agencies Access to Vital Statistics for Research Purposes |
| In the near future, we will be introducing legislation to allow Legislative Agencies to have access to research under the Vital Statistics Law. Our legislation would make minor revisions to the Vital Statistics Law to expressly include the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee as a government entity and to clarify that their purposes are related to research. On November 19, 2020, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 1087, which requested the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a series of studies on issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the reporting and categorizing of deaths. As part of that study, the Department of Health found various reasons to deny the LBFC access to redacted death certificates, citing that the LBFC is not a “government entity” and that the LBFC was not conducting “research”. While the LBFC understandably disagreed with these assertions, they were nonetheless denied access to the records to adequately finish the report. We hope that you will join us as a co-sponsor for this important legislation. If you have any questions, please contact David Kozak or Chloe Mandara. |
Introduced as SB1136