BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 271
By: Zaffirini
Health & Human Services
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Currently, there is no official documentation or acknowledgment that a stillbirth took place, other than a certificate of fetal death. According to many parents of stillborn children, under current law, there is no official recognition to parents that a child was actually born.
S.B. 271 provides for a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth from the State of Texas, upon request of a grieving parent, which would provide the recognition that a child was born.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 192.0022, Health and Safety Code) of this bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 192, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 192.0022, as follows:
Sec. 192.0022. CERTIFICATE OF BIRTH RESULTING IN STILLBIRTH. (a) Defines "stillbirth" and "certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth."
(b) Requires the person who is required to file a fetal death certificate under Section 193.002 (persons in charge of interment or in charge of removal of a body from a registration district for disposition) to advise the parent or parents of a stillborn child of certain information regarding obtaining a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth.
(c) Authorizes a parent to provide a name for a stillborn child on the request for a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth. Requires the bureau of vital statistics, if the requesting parent does not wish to provide a name, to fill in the certificate with the name "baby boy" or "baby girl" and the last name of the parent. Requires the name of the stillborn child provided on or later added by amendment to the certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth to be the same name as placed on the original or amended fetal death certificate.
(d) Requires a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth to include the state file number of the corresponding fetal death certificate.
(e) Requires the Department of State Health Services to prescribe the form and content of a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth and to specify the information necessary to prepare the certificate.
(f) Prohibits the bureau of vital statistics from using a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth to calculate live birth statistics.
(g) Requires the bureau of vital statistics, on issuance of a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth to a requesting parent, to file an exact copy of the certificate with the local registrar of the registration district in which the stillbirth occurred. Requires the local registrar to file the certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth with the fetal death certificate.
(h) Authorizes a parent to request the bureau of vital statistics to issue a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth without regard to the date on which the fetal death certificate was issued.
(i) Authorizes the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules necessary to administer this section.
SECTION 2. Requires the bureau of vital statistics of the Department of State Health Services, not later than the 60th day following the effective date of this Act, to prescribe the form and content of a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth and specify the information necessary to prepare the certificate as required by Section 192.0022, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 3. Authorizes a parent to request the bureau of vital statistics of the Department of State Health Services to prepare and issue a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth without regard to whether the fetal death occurred on, before, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 2005.