S-2588.1          _______________________________________________

 

                                 SENATE BILL 5958

                  _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

 

By Senator McDonald.

 

Read first time April 15, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.Establishing a new fee structure for the vital records program.


     AN ACT Relating to vital records; amending RCW 70.58.107; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

     Sec. 1.  RCW 70.58.107 and 1991 c 3 s 343 are each amended to read as follows:

     The department of health shall ((charge a fee of eleven dollars)) by rule establish a fee for certified copies of records and for copies or information provided for research, statistical, or administrative purposes, and ((eight dollars)) a fee for a search of the files or records when no copy is made.  The department shall prescribe by regulation fees to be paid for preparing sealed files and for opening sealed files.  The fees established by the department under this section shall be set at a level that enables the department to operate the vital records program on a self-sufficient basis.  The fee revenue shall be deposited in the state general fund.

     No fee may be demanded or required for furnishing certified copies of a birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, annulment, or legal separation record for use in connection with a claim for compensation or pension pending before the veterans administration.

     The department shall keep a true and correct account of all fees received and turn the fees over to the state treasurer on a weekly basis.

     Local registrars shall charge the same fees as the state as hereinabove provided and as prescribed by department regulation, except that local registrars shall charge eleven dollars for the first copy of a death certificate and six dollars for each additional copy of the same death certificate when the additional copies are ordered at the same time as the first copy.  All such fees collected, except for three dollars of each fee for the issuance of a certified copy, shall be paid to the jurisdictional health department.

     All local registrars in cities and counties shall keep a true and correct account of all fees received under this section for the issuance of certified copies and shall turn three dollars of the fee over to the state treasurer on or before the first day of January, April, July, and October.

     Three dollars of each fee imposed for the issuance of certified copies, except for copies suitable for display issued under RCW 70.58.085, at both the state and local levels shall be held by the state treasurer in the death investigations account established by RCW 43.79.445.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.      The secretary of the department of health may take such steps as are necessary to ensure that this act is implemented on its effective date.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.      This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1991.