HOUSE FILE 2067

BY  LENSING

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the transmission and recording of certain death certificates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 144.26, subsection 3, Code Supplement 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   3.
  a.  The county in which a dead body is found is the county of death. If death occurs in a moving conveyance, the county in which the dead body is first removed from the conveyance is the county of death.
   b.  If a decedent died outside of the county of the decedent’s residence, the state registrar shall send a copy of the decedent’s death certificate and any amendments to the county registrar of the county of the decedent’s residence. The county registrar shall record a death certificate received pursuant to this paragraph in the same records in which the death certificate of a decedent who died within the county is recorded. The state registrar may provide the county registrars with electronic access to vital records in lieu of the requirements of this paragraph.
EXPLANATION
   This bill relates to the transmission and recording of certain death certificates.
   The bill requires that when a person dies outside of the county of the person’s residence the state registrar shall send a copy of the person’s death certificate to the county registrar for the county of the person’s residence. The bill provides that, in lieu of this requirement, the state registrar may provide county registrars with electronic access to vital records. The bill also requires that a county registrar shall record such a death certificate in the same records in which deaths occurring in the county are recorded.