§33. Vital records registry; establishment; general authority and duties of state registrar

A. There is hereby established a central vital records registry within the office of public health and a registrar of vital records for the state with an office properly equipped and operated for the safety and preservation of all vital records covering the births, deaths, marriages, divorce judgments, adoptions, and change of names, made and received under this Chapter or under the regulations adopted by the Louisiana Department of Health.

B. The vital records registry shall be directed by the state registrar who shall enforce this Chapter and the regulations made pursuant thereto and shall investigate all cases of irregularity in preparation and filing of vital records. Documents shall not be registered until such irregularities have been resolved.

C. Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health shall make and amend, after due notice and hearing, in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, regulations necessary for the efficient performance of a single adequate system of vital records for this state, and shall give instructions for collecting, transcribing, compiling, analyzing, reporting, preserving, and issuing certified copies of vital records.

D. The domicile of the vital records registry shall be in the parish of Orleans. All suits or mandamus actions brought against the registry shall be brought in the parish of Orleans.

E. The appointment of the state registrar shall be in accordance with the civil service law and regulations.

F. The state registrar, with the approval of the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health shall prescribe, print, and supply each parish with all certificate forms or reports provided for in this Chapter. The local registrar shall supply such forms to every hospital, clinic, almshouse, lying-in hospital, or other institution, public or private, including penal institutions, located in his registration district to which persons resort for treatment of disease or injury or for childbirth or are committed by process of law and to all physicians in his registration district.

G. Any person having knowledge of the facts shall furnish such information as he or she may possess regarding any birth, death, spontaneous fetal death, induced termination of pregnancy, marriage, or divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment, upon demand of the state registrar. Nothing in this Section or Chapter shall be construed to require the person charged by R.S. 40:45 with preparing birth certificates to make other than a reasonable effort, as defined in R.S. 40:44, to obtain missing information or signature.

H. Repealed by Acts 2010, No. 175, §6.

Acts 1979, No. 776, §1. Amended by Acts 1986, No. 876, §1; Acts 1991, No. 820, §1; Acts 2010, No. 175, §6; Acts 2013, No. 220, §17, eff. June 11, 2013.