H.B. 1353 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


H.B. 1353
By: Uresti
Public Health
Committee Report (Unamended)

    
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 
Records stored by the City of San Antonio hold historical significance and
many provide valuable information about the progress of our community over
the last 150 years.  The City is the repository of the only permanent
original documents such as tax records, deeds, plats and architectural
plans, and birth/death/fetal death records.  In order to ensure their
preservation, a permanent fee is necessary to generate sufficient revenues
to cover the costs associated with archiving and preserving these
documents. 

Currently, there is no fee available to a municipality for the
preservation of records.  However, the counties have several fees that
they are allowed to impose for records management and preservation: 
1.Counties charge a $20 record fee for a defendant in county court,
district court, or county court at law.  Code of Criminal Procedure
Article 102.005(f). 
2.Counties charge a $5 records management and preservation fee for all
district court filings under Texas Government Code   51.317.
Municipalities do not have any similar authority.  
Records are currently microfilmed, imaged and maintained by the City
Clerk's Office Records Management Division and stored at the Municipal
Records Facility.  House Bill 1353 would allow the city to levy a one
dollar fee for records preservation on birth and death records will help
the City preserve and restore valuable historical and archival documents
and enable the City to preserve and maintain numerous historical
documents. 

San Antonio is the 9th largest city in the U.S., and one of the oldest
established cities in the State. Texas is the second most populous state
in the union.  San Antonio and other Texas cities are facing a crisis in
records preservation.  Local registrars provide the easiest access for
citizens to obtain records from the city and the state.  In order to meet
the ever increasing demands of our citizens, the City must be able to
adequately preserve their records and provide easier access in the future.

San Antonio provides approximately 78,000 births and 97,000 death/fetal
death records each year. 


RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS
This bill amends the Health and Safety Code by authorizing a local
registrar to collect a fee not to exceed $1, in addition to other fees
collected under the chapter on fees in the Health and Safety Code, for the
preservation of vital statics records maintained by the registrar,
including birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, and annulment
records.  The bill requires the fee to be collected by the registrar on
the issuance of a vital statistics record. 

EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2003