By:  Zaffirini                                         S.B. No. 267
       73R3897 KLL-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the certification of births  and to birth certificates.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 192.003,  Health and Safety Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 192.003.  Birth Certificate Filed or Birth Reported.
    1-7  (a)  The physician, midwife, or person acting as a midwife in
    1-8  attendance at a birth shall file the birth certificate with the
    1-9  local registrar of the registration district in which the birth
   1-10  occurs.
   1-11        (b)  If a birth occurs in a hospital or birthing center, the
   1-12  hospital administrator, the birthing center administrator, or a
   1-13  designee of the appropriate administrator may file the birth
   1-14  certificate in lieu of a person listed by Subsection (a).
   1-15        (c)  If there is no physician, midwife, or person acting as a
   1-16  midwife in attendance at a birth, and if the birth does not occur
   1-17  in a hospital or birthing center, the following in the order listed
   1-18  shall report the birth to the local registrar:
   1-19              (1)  the father or mother of the child; or
   1-20              (2)  the owner or householder of the premises where the
   1-21  birth occurs <if the birth does not occur in an institution, or the
   1-22  manager or superintendent of the institution in which the birth
   1-23  occurs>.
   1-24        (d) <(c)>  A person required to file a birth certificate or
    2-1  report a birth shall file the certificate or make the report not
    2-2  later than the fifth day after the date of the birth.
    2-3        SECTION 2.  Section 192.004(a),  Health and Safety Code, is
    2-4  amended to read as follows:
    2-5        (a)  The local registrar shall obtain the information
    2-6  necessary to prepare the birth certificate from the person
    2-7  reporting a birth or from another person with the required
    2-8  knowledge if:
    2-9              (1)  the birth is reported under Section 192.003(c)
   2-10  <192.003(b)>; or
   2-11              (2)  a person <physician, midwife, or person acting as
   2-12  a midwife>  who files a certificate under Section 192.003(a) or
   2-13  192.003(b) cannot by diligent inquiry obtain an item of information
   2-14  required for the certificate.
   2-15        SECTION 3.  Section 191.0045(d), Health and Safety Code, is
   2-16  amended to read as follows:
   2-17        (d)  A local registrar who issues a certified copy of a death
   2-18  certificate or birth certificate shall charge the same fee as
   2-19  charged by the state registrar <bureau of vital statistics>.
   2-20        SECTION 4.  Section 81.090(g),  Health and Safety Code, is
   2-21  repealed.
   2-22        SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-23        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-25  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-26  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-27  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.