Bill Text: NY A09837 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires the implementation of an electronic death registration system; all deaths occurring in the state must be registered using the electronic registration system.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-5)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-20 - RECOMMITTED TO RULES [A09837 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A09837-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         9837--A
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 14, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of A. STECK, GOTTFRIED, DINOWITZ, SKOUFIS, McDONALD,
          RAIA, BRAUNSTEIN,  JEAN-PIERRE,  SANTABARBARA,  JOHNS,  TITONE,  KOLB,
          FINCH,  GARBARINO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
          -- 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 implementation
          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. Subdivision 1 of section 4140 of the public health law,  as
     2  amended  by  chapter  352  of  the  laws  of 2013, is amended to read as
     3  follows:
     4    1. The death of each person who has died in this state shall be regis-
     5  tered immediately and not later than seventy-two hours  after  death  or
     6  the  finding  of  a dead human body, by filing with the registrar of the
     7  district in which the death occurred or the body was found a certificate
     8  of such death, in a manner and format as prescribed by the commissioner,
     9  which shall [include] be through electronic  means  in  accordance  with
    10  section forty-one hundred forty-eight of this title.
    11    § 2. Section 4148 of the public health law, as added by chapter 352 of
    12  the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
    13    §  4148.  Electronic  death  registration system. 1. The department is
    14  hereby authorized and directed to design, fully implement  and  maintain
    15  an electronic death registration system for collecting, storing, record-
    16  ing,  transmitting, amending, correcting and authenticating information,
    17  as necessary and appropriate to complete a death  registration,  and  to
    18  generate such documents as determined by the department in relation to a
    19  death  occurring in this state. As part of the design and full implemen-
    20  tation of the system established by this section, the  department  shall
    21  consult  with  all  persons  authorized to use such system to the extent
    22  practicable and feasible. The payment referenced in subdivision five  of
    23  this section shall be collected for each burial or removal permit issued
    24  on  or  after  the  effective  date  of this section from the registered
    25  funeral firm represented by the licensed funeral director or  undertaker
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14592-02-8
        A. 9837--A                          2
     1  to whom such permit is issued, in the manner specified by the department
     2  and  shall  be used solely for the purpose set forth in subdivision five
     3  of this section. Except as specifically provided in  this  section,  the
     4  existing  general duties of, and remuneration received by, local regist-
     5  rars in accepting and filing certificates of death  and  issuing  burial
     6  and removal permits pursuant to any statute or regulation shall be main-
     7  tained, and not altered or abridged in any way by this section.
     8    2.  Commencing  on  the  implementation  date[,  the  department shall
     9  require that] all deaths occurring within this state must be  registered
    10  using  the  electronic  death  registration  system  established in this
    11  section.  Electronic death registration may be phased in, as  determined
    12  by  the commissioner, for deaths occurring in the state [until the elec-
    13  tronic death registration system is  fully  implemented  in  the  state]
    14  prior to the implementation date.  As used in this section, "implementa-
    15  tion date" means [the first day in January in the second year after this
    16  section becomes a law, or as soon thereafter as the commissioner reason-
    17  ably determines by regulation is feasible in light of the intent of this
    18  section]  January  first,  two  thousand  nineteen.   Violations of this
    19  section shall be subject to sections twelve and twelve-b of  this  chap-
    20  ter,  provided  that  subdivision four of section twelve of this chapter
    21  shall not apply. Penalties shall not be assessed  if  non-compliance  is
    22  determined  by  the  department  to be attributable to a circumstance or
    23  occurrence substantially beyond the control of said person.
    24    3. Commencing on the implementation  date,  all  persons  required  to
    25  register  a death or file a certificate of death under this article, and
    26  such others as may be authorized by the commissioner, shall have  access
    27  to  the electronic death registration system for the purpose of entering
    28  information required to execute, complete  and  file  a  certificate  of
    29  death or to retrieve such information or generate documentation from the
    30  electronic  death registration system. The confidentiality provisions in
    31  section forty-one hundred forty-seven  of  this  title  shall  apply  to
    32  information maintained in this system.
    33    4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, commencing on
    34  or  after  January  first, two thousand fifteen[, or on such date deter-
    35  mined by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision two of  this  section]
    36  but no later than the implementation date, any requirement of this title
    37  for  a  signature  of any person shall be deemed satisfied by the use by
    38  such person of digital signature provided such person is  authorized  in
    39  accordance  with  this  section to use the electronic death registration
    40  system.
    41    5. [Licensed] For burial and removal permits, licensed funeral  direc-
    42  tors  and undertakers shall support the establishment and maintenance of
    43  the electronic death registration system through a payment, tendered for
    44  each burial and removal permit issued to a licensed funeral director  or
    45  undertaker,  in the amount of twenty dollars, provided that such payment
    46  shall be considered a cost of operation  and  the  funeral  director  or
    47  undertaker  shall  not charge any additional fee related to such payment
    48  for funeral or other services.
    49    § 3. Subdivision 3 of section  4171  of  the  public  health  law,  as
    50  amended  by  chapter  352  of  the  laws  of 2013, is amended to read as
    51  follows:
    52    3. All certificates, either of birth or death, shall be written  legi-
    53  bly,  in  durable  black  ink, provided, however, that commencing on [or
    54  after] the implementation date under section  forty-one  hundred  forty-
    55  eight  of this article, death certificates shall be completed in accord-
    56  ance with section forty-one hundred  forty-eight  of  this  article.  No
        A. 9837--A                          3
     1  certificate[,  whether  filed  in  paper form or death certificate filed
     2  electronically in accordance with section forty-one hundred  forty-eight
     3  of this article,] shall be held to be complete and correct that does not
     4  supply  all of the items of information called for therein, or satisfac-
     5  torily account for their omission.
     6    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.