H-0340.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1475

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Representative Reams

Read first time 01/28/97.  Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.

Revising fees charged by the local registrars.

    AN ACT Relating to fees charged by local registrars; and amending RCW 70.58.107.

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 for certified copies of records and for copies or information provided for research, statistical, or administrative purposes, and eight dollars 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.

    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)) five dollars for the first copy of a death certificate and ((six)) three 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.

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