PETITION OF:

SECTION 1. Section 12 of the said chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following new paragraph:-

The town clerk for the community where the birth or death occurred may cease transmitting paper copies of birth and death records to the town clerks for the community of residence as soon as the centralized, automated database operated by the state registrar pursuant to section 32 is made available to town clerks throughout the commonwealth.

SECTION 2. Section 15 of said chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004

Official Edition, is hereby repealed.

SECTION 3. Chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out section 16 and inserting in place thereof the following:-

Section 16. The state registrar shall prepare and furnish forms of uniform size to the clerks, boards of health, physicians, hospitals, the chief medical examiner, funeral directors, probate and district courts, and others involved in the preparation and registration of vital records and shall provide them with any necessary instructions and explanations as to use of such forms. All forms shall have security features that deter alteration, counterfeiting, duplication or simulation of vital records and shall meet applicable federal and state standards established for this purpose. Any forms and other materials that are used for preparation of any vital records but are not supplied by the state registrar shall be approved by the state registrar. All forms used for permanent records shall meet standards established by the state registrar, which standards shall be no less stringent than the current standards of the supervisor of public records and the state archivist for materials, devices and preservation.

SECTION 4. Chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out section 18 and inserting in place thereof the following section:

Section 18. Records transmitted by the town clerk under section 12 and sections

17 through 17D shall be written in legible hand, typewritten, printed using an electronic format approved by the state registrar or printed using the centralized, automated database operated by the state registrar pursuant to section 32. Any forms and formats must have prior approval of the state registrar and meet his standards for uniformity, security, materials and devices, and preservation, providing that the state registrar’s standards for materials and devices and preservation are no less stringent than the current standards of the supervisor of public records and the state archivist for materials and devices and preservation.

SECTION 5. Section 19C of said chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out in line 1 the words “commissioner of public health” and inserting in place thereof the words: state

Registrar and by striking out the phase in line 3: “in his department.”

SECTION 6. Section 30 of chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking out in line 5 the words “secretary of state: and inserting in place thereof the words “state registrar.”

SECTION 7. Chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition,

is hereby amended by inserting after section 30 the following new sections:-

Section 31. When the state registrar or a town clerk has reasonable cause to

Believe that a vital record may have been falsely made, altered, forged, counterfeited, or procured through fraud or misrepresentation or improper use of the signature of facsimile of the signature of validating signature stamp of a town clerk or the state registrar, the state registrar and town clerk shall temporarily withhold issuance of any copy of that record and retain the record and the evidence, pending notification of appropriate law enforcement authorities. If, in consultation with law enforcement officials, an administrative decision is made that the state registrar or town clerk impound the record, inspection of the record shall not be permitted nor shall certified copies of the record be issued except upon proper judicial order or upon request of government officials whose official duties, in the opinion of the town clerk or the commissioner of public health, as the case may be, entitle him to the information contained therein.

Section 32. The state registrar shall establish, maintain, and operate a centralized, automated database for the system of vital records and statistics throughout the Commonwealth, subject to appropriations. The state registrar shall make such automated database available to town clerks who shall use it for the purposes of (1) recording all births and deaths by city or town of occurrence and all marriages by city or town that issued the license and (2) for issuing certified copies of vital records.

Effective March 1, 2010 all certified copies of vital records shall be issued from the database operated by the state registrar. All certified copies issued from this database shall be identical in size and format and shall have security features that deter alteration, counterfeiting, duplication or simulation of vital records and shall meet applicable federal and state standards established for this purpose. When issuing certified copies, the state registrar and town clerks shall comply with all applicable restrictions of state and federal law. The fee for a certified copy of a vital record issued by any town clerk from the database operated by the state registrar shall be uniform throughout the commonwealth, irrespective of where the record was originally recorded.

The database operated by the state registrar shall have the capacity for hospitals throughout the commonwealth to enter information required for (i) standard certificates of live birth and as required by the commissioner for administrative, research and statistical purposes under section 24B of Chapter 111: (ii) acknowledgments of paternity; (iii) standard certificates of death; and (iv) fetal death reports. The database also shall have the capacity for the chief medical examiner to enter information required for a medical examiner’s certificate of death and for licensed funeral directors to enter information required for the standard certificate of death. In addition, the database shall have the capacity for courts in the commonwealth to enter information required for amendment of birth records following adjudications of paternity under chapter 209C and

adoptions under chapter 210. The database shall have the capacity to enter, verify and hold electronic signatures for all of the foregoing records.

Vital records and identifiable information contained in the database maintained by

the state registrar or generated by this database are not public records for purposes section

10 of chapter 66, with the exception of notices of intention to marry which are public records under section 20 of chapter 20 and are subject to inspection and photocopying

by members of the public.

Town Clerks shall be responsible for the maintenance and preservation of original paper records until such time as originals are transferred to the state registrar. The state registrar shall be responsible for maintenance and preservation of original paper records until such time as bound volumes of original birth, marriage and death records are transferred to the state archivist, at which time such records shall become public records for purposes of section 10 of chapter 66.

Section 33. The state registrar, subject to appropriates, may enter into

Agreements to verify personal identity information from birth, marriage and death records for state and federal agencies administering public health and welfare programs,

registrars of motor vehicles, citizen and immigration services, passport agencies, and law enforcement officials to minimize the potential for identity theft and fraud.