HBA-JEK H.B. 761 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 761 By: Coleman Public Health 3/1/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The bureau of vital statistics (bureau) of the Texas Department of Health records all births, deaths, marriages, and divorces in Texas (vital records). The information maintained by the bureau is used to plan and evaluate public health programs and to identify specific problem areas. Each year, the bureau registers almost 750,000 documents and the public requests more than 200,000 searches for documents. As Texas is the fastest growing state in the nation, the volume of vital records in the state has increased. A more efficient electronic system could better support the large volume of vital records and search requests. House Bill 761 creates the vital statistics enhancement fund and raises the fees related to birth and death certificates. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 761 amends the Health and Safety and Local Government codes to create the vital statistics enhancement fund to be used for an electronic reporting system to maintain records. The bill authorizes the bureau of vital statistics of the Texas Department of Health to use the fund for certain systems, developments, improvements, and enhancements of electronic reporting systems. The bill increases the fee that the bureau of vital statistics is required to charge for issuing a certified copy of a certificate of a birth, issuing a wallet-sized certification of birth, or conducting a search for a certificate of birth from $2 to $4. The bill requires one-half of these fees to be deposited to the credit of the work and family policies fund and the other half to be in the state treasury deposited to the credit of the vital statistics enhancement fund. H.B. 761 requires the bureau to collect an additional $1 fee for issuing a certified copy of a death certificate for deposit in the state treasury to the credit of the vital statistics enhancement fund. H.B. 761 requires a local registrar or county clerk who collects a fee for a certified copy of a birth certificate to remit $3.60 rather than $1.80 to the comptroller for deposit in the work and family policies and the vital statistics enhancement funds, and retain 40 cents rather than 20 cents to apply to the registrar's or clerk's administrative costs. The bill also requires a local registrar or county clerk to remit $1 of the fee charged for a certified copy of a death certificate to the comptroller for deposit in the vital statistics enhancement fund. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.