H-3660.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2300
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1992 Regular Session
By Representative Peery
Read first time 01/14/92. Referred to Committee on Local Government.
AN ACT Relating to death and burial records; and amending RCW 70.58.030, 70.58.160, 70.58.190, 70.58.240, and 70.58.250.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 70.58.030 and 1990 c 99 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The
local registrar shall supply blank forms of certificates to such persons as
require them. He or she shall carefully examine each certificate of birth,
death, and fetal death when presented for record, and see that it has been made
out in accordance with the provisions of law and the instructions of the state
registrar. If any certificate of death is incomplete or unsatisfactory, the
local registrar shall call attention to the defects in the return((, and
withhold issuing the burial-transit permit until it is corrected. If the
certificate of death is properly executed and complete,)). He or
she shall issue a burial-transit permit to the funeral director or person
acting as such. If a certificate of a birth is incomplete, he or she shall
immediately notify the informant, and require that the missing items be
supplied if they can be obtained. He or she shall sign as local registrar to
each certificate filed in attest of the date of filing in the office. He or
she shall make a record of each birth, death, and fetal death certificate
registered in such manner as directed by the state registrar. The local
registrar shall transmit to the state registrar each original death or fetal death
certificate no less than thirty days after the certificate was registered nor
more than sixty days after the certificate was registered. On or before the
fifteenth day and the last day of each month, each local registrar shall
transmit to the state registrar all original birth certificates that were
registered prior to that day and which had not been transmitted previously. A
local registrar shall transmit an original certificate to the state registrar
whenever the state registrar requests the transfer of the certificate from the
local registrar. If no births or no deaths occurred in any month, he or she
shall, on the tenth day of the following month, report that fact to the state
registrar, on a card provided for this purpose. Local registrars in counties
in which a first class city or a city of twenty-seven thousand or more
population is located may retain an exact copy of the original and make
certified copies of the exact copy.
Sec. 2. RCW 70.58.160 and 1961 ex.s. c 5 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:
A
certificate of every death or fetal death shall be filed with the local
registrar of the district in which the death or fetal death occurred within
three days after the occurrence is known, or if the place of death or fetal
death is not known, then with the local registrar of the district in which the
body is found within twenty-four hours thereafter. ((In every instance a
certificate shall be filed prior to the interment or other disposition of the
body: PROVIDED, That)) A certificate of fetal death shall not be
required if the period of gestation is less than twenty weeks.
Sec. 3. RCW 70.58.190 and 1945 c 159 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
If the
cause of death cannot be determined within three days, the certification of its
cause may be filed after the prescribed period, but the attending physician,
coroner, or prosecuting attorney shall give the local registrar of the district
in which the death occurred written notice of the reason for the delay((, in
order that a permit for the disposition of the body may be issued if required)).
Sec. 4. RCW 70.58.240 and 1961 ex.s. c 5 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:
Each
funeral director or person acting as such shall obtain a certificate of death
and file the same with the local registrar((, and)). He or she shall
secure a burial-transit permit((,)) prior to any permanent disposition
of the body. He or she shall obtain the personal and statistical
particulars required, from the person best qualified to supply them. He or
she shall present the certificate to the attending physician or in case the
death occurred without any medical attendance, to the proper official for
certification for the medical certificate of the cause of death and other
particulars necessary to complete the record. He or she shall supply
the information required relative to the date and place of disposition and he or
she shall present the completed certificate to the local registrar((,
for the issuance of a burial-transit permit)). He or she shall
deliver the burial permit to the sexton, or person in charge of the place of
burial, before interring the body; or shall attach the transit permit to the
box containing the corpse, when shipped by any transportation company, and the
permit shall accompany the corpse to its destination.
Sec. 5. RCW 70.58.250 and 1961 ex.s. c 5 s 18 are each amended to read as follows:
The
burial-transit permit shall contain a statement by the local registrar and over
his or her signature, that ((a satisfactory certificate of death
having been filed with him, as required by law,)) permission is granted to
inter, remove, or otherwise dispose of the body; stating the name of the
deceased and other necessary details upon the form prescribed by the state
registrar.