BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1644
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 11, 2004
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Judy Chu, Chair
SB 1644 (Romero) - As Amended: August 5, 2004
Policy Committee: HealthVote:13-5
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires a local registrar of birth and deaths to
provide specified information from death certificates to the
chair, co-chair, or agent of the chair of a county elder death
review team (CEDRT). Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a local registrar of births and deaths to provide,
from information obtained for death certificates, to the
chair, co-chair, or any agent of the chair or co-chair, of a
CEDRT, upon request, a report for a date period specified by
the requester that contains the following three elements:
name, place, and date of death.
2)Requires the provisions of this bill apply only to a local
registrar of a county that has access to the Internet-based
electronic death registration system established by the
Department of Health Services (DHS).
3)Requires a local registrar to comply with the requirements of
this bill on or before July 1, 2005, or a reasonable time
thereafter, but in no case later than December 1, 2005.
4)Permits an organization represented on an CEDRT to request and
obtain copies of death certificates from the local registrar
of births and deaths.
5)Permits each organization represented on an CEDRT to share
with any other member of the CEDRT information obtained from a
death certificate, and requires information received by a
member of an CEDRT under this provision to be subject to the
confidentiality and disclosure requirements of existing law.
SB 1644
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)To the extent DHS makes changes as a result of this bill to
the electronic death registration system, costs to DHS of
approximately $60,000.
2)Likely minor state-mandated costs to allow CEDRTs to access
electronic death certificates. However, these costs would be
borne by the General Fund because they are an unfunded
state-mandate.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill is sponsored by the California Senior
Legislature to authorize certain members of a CEDRT to access
death certificates electronically from the county department
that keeps vital statistics, thereby ensuring access to death
information for CEDRTs. Proponents, including the California
Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, believe this bill provides
an essential tool to CEDRTs to more effectively track and
respond to elder deaths in each county.
2)Background . Existing law authorizes counties to establish an
interagency elder death team (a CEDRT) to help local agencies
identify and review suspicious elder deaths and facilitate
communication among the various persons and agencies involved
in elder abuse or neglect cases. Each organization
represented on an CEDRT can share with other members of the
team information in its possession concerning the decedent who
is the subject of the review, or any person who was in contact
with the decedent.
Written and oral information, such as medical information, elder
abuse reports, mental health information, state summary
criminal history information, and criminal offender record
information can be disclosed to the CEDRT, but no individual
or agency that has this information is required to disclose
information. The intent of existing law is to allow the
voluntary disclosure of information by the individual or
agency that has the information. This bill would instead
require a local registrar of births and deaths to provide,
from information on the death certificate, the place of death,
name of the deceased person, and date of death to certain
members of a CEDRT.
SB 1644
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Under current law enacted by AB 2550 (Nation), Chapter 857,
Statutes of 2002, DHS must implement, by January 1, 2005, an
Internet-based electronic death registration system for the
creation, storage, and transfer of death registration
information. DHS indicates its current timetable is for two
counties (Riverside and Yolo) to begin operating January 1.
In July, 2005, the system will be open to all counties. The
system is voluntary for all participants and is being
administered through a contract with UC Davis.
Analysis Prepared by : Scott Bain / APPR. / (916) 319-2081