By Solis of Bexar                                     H.B. No. 2065
         76R4640 JRD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to allowing a local registrar to charge a records
 1-3     management and preservation fee for copies of birth, death, and
 1-4     fetal death records.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 191.0045, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-7     amended by amending Subsections (d) and (g) and adding Subsection
 1-8     (h) to read as follows:
 1-9           (d)  A local registrar who issues a certified copy of a birth
1-10     or death certificate shall charge the same fees as charged by the
1-11     bureau of vital statistics, including the additional fee required
1-12     under Subsection (e), except as provided by Subsections
1-13     [Subsection] (g) and (h).
1-14           (g)  A local registrar that on March 31, 1995, was charging a
1-15     fee for the issuance of a certified copy of a birth certificate
1-16     that exceeded the fee charged by the bureau of vital statistics for
1-17     the same type of certificate may continue to do so but shall not
1-18     raise this fee until the fee charged by the bureau exceeds the fee
1-19     charged by the local registrar, except as provided by Subsection
1-20     (h).  A local registrar to which this subsection  applies shall
1-21     charge the additional fee as required under Subsection (e) and may
1-22     charge the additional fee allowed under Subsection (h).
1-23           (h)  In addition to other fees charged under this section, a
1-24     local registrar may charge a records management and preservation
 2-1     fee not to exceed $1 for each copy or certified copy of a birth,
 2-2     death, or fetal death  record issued by the local registrar. The
 2-3     fee may be used only to provide funds for the management and
 2-4     preservation of birth, death, fetal death, and other vital
 2-5     statistics records maintained by the local registrar.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.