BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1644
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1644 (Romero)
As Amended August 17, 2004
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :25-12
HEALTH 13-5 APPROPRIATIONS 14-5
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|Ayes:|Cohn, Goldberg, Chavez, |Ayes:|Chu, Berg, Laird, |
| |Dymally, Frommer, Koretz, | |Firebaugh, |
| |Lieber, Montanez, Nakano, | |Goldberg, Leno, Nation, |
| |Negrete McLeod, | |Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Salinas, | |Pavley, |
| |Wolk | |Ridley-Thomas, Wesson, |
| | | |Wiggins, Yee |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Spitzer, Dutton, |Nays:|Runner, Bates, Daucher, |
| |Nakanishi, Plescia, | |Haynes, Keene |
| |Richman | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a local registrar of births and deaths in a
county that elects to participate in the Internet-based
electronic death registration system, upon the request of a
member of a county elder death review team (EDRT), to make
available information to the EDRT from a certificate of death,
as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a local registrar of births and deaths in a county
that elects to participate in the Internet-based electronic
death registration system established by the department, as
specified, to provide, from information obtained from death
certificates, to the chair, cochair, or any agent of the chair
or cochair, of a county EDRT, as specified, upon request, a
report for a date period specified by the requester that
contains the following three elements:
a) Place of death;
b) Last name, followed by first name, of the deceased
person; and,
c) Date of death.
SB 1644
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2)Requires a local register 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.
3)Allows an organization represented on an EDRT to request and
obtain copies of certificates of death from the local
registrar of births and deaths subject to any fee requirement
and allows each organization represented on an EDRT to share
that information with any other member of the team.
4)Maintains the confidentiality and disclosure requirements, as
defined.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows each county to establish an interagency elder death
team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing
suspicious elder deaths and facilitating communication among
persons involved in investigating elder abuse cases.
2)Allows for each organization represented on an EDRT to 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 and any other
information deemed by the organization to be pertinent to the
review.
3)Establishes, by January 1, 2005, the Internet-based electronic
death registration system within DHS, limited to proper use of
the death information created, stored, and transferred within
the system and subject to any limitation placed on the
accessibility and release of personally identifying
information contained in those death records.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis, this bill would have minor state fiscal
effect.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill authorizes a
member of a local EDRT to access death certificates
electronically from vital statistics in their county. This bill
ensures access of death information for EDRTs, which are made up
of governmental and law enforcement officials that currently do
not have portal access to death certificates held in vital
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statistics. Finally, this bill provides an essential tool to
EDRTs to effectively track the deaths of elders in each county.
For example, patterns that may develop locally with respect to
deaths will be more easily tracked and responded to with this
information.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME) states that current law requires that each
death be registered with the local registrar of births and
deaths in the district in which the death was officially
pronounced or the body was found within eight calendar days
after death and prior to any disposition of the human remains.
This bill would require a local registrar of deaths to make
available and assist the electronic transfer of information from
a certificate of death to the county EDRT, in accordance with
the Internet-based electronic death registration system in any
county that has access to it. AFSCME supports this bill because
it would allow members of an EDRT to electronically access death
certificates from vital statistics.
Analysis Prepared by : Clara Craven / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097
FN: 0007677