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Subcommittee reports bill changing death‑certificate timing and BRTP handling (S.894)
Summary
S.894, allowing death certificates to be filed after a funeral director assumes custody and clarifying electronic filing deadlines, was reported favorably after discussion about tying timing to burial removal transit permits (BRTPs); an attempted BRTP‑based amendment was withdrawn for further work.
The House 3M subcommittee voted to report Senate Bill 894 favorably after hearing from funeral‑industry representatives and Department of Public Health staff about operational issues in death‑certificate filing.
Trey summarized S.894 as authorizing that a death certificate need not be filed until after a funeral director has taken possession of the decedent and allowing electronic filing by the end of the next business day when the five‑day requirement falls on a weekend or holiday.
Lance Wimberly, speaking for the funeral association, and Steve Winburn, vice president, said the change would let funeral homes better serve families when custody of the body is delayed by autopsy, organ donation or coroner investigations. Caleb Cox, director of vital statistics at the Department of Public Health, explained that the burial removal transit permit (BRTP) is issued to notify the funeral home and that BRTP issuance is intended to occur within 48 hours of death, but that custody and completion of demographic details can be delayed. Cox and industry witnesses described cases where a BRTP is issued but physical pickup occurs days later.
Committee members debated an amendment that would have tied the filing deadline to BRTP issuance rather than physical custody; after a short recess the chair withdrew that amendment for further work and said the bill would be passed favorably out to the full committee next week with clarifications to follow.
S.894 was reported favorably to the full committee in subcommittee action.
