§39.1. Certified copies of birth certificates and death certificates; clerks of district courts and the Second City Court of the city of New Orleans; Vital Records Conversion Fund

A. The state registrar of vital records shall promulgate rules to implement the issuance of certified copies of birth certificates and death certificates through the office of the clerk of district court in each parish and the office of clerk of the Second City Court of the city of New Orleans. Such rules shall apply only to issuance of those birth and death records that are available for electronic issuance from the Vital Records Registry birth and death databases and shall include access to the following items:

(1) Automated access, retrieval, and production of short-form birth certificates, long-form birth certificates, and death certificates by the clerks of district courts and the clerk of the Second City Court of the city of New Orleans using the data network available to the secretary of state.

(2) Record searches to be conducted by the offices of the clerks of court.

(3) Sale of certified copies of birth and death certificates issued by the offices of the clerks of court.

B.(1) The clerk of district court in each parish and the clerk of the Second City Court of the city of New Orleans may issue certified copies of short-form birth certificate cards and long-form birth certificates and death certificates in accordance with rules promulgated pursuant to Subsection A of this Section. In addition to fees collected for issuance of a birth record or death certificate as provided in R.S. 40:40, the clerk of court shall collect a fee of five dollars for a short-form birth certificate and nineteen dollars for a long-form birth certificate or a death certificate. A short-form birth certificate card may be purchased only by an individual who also purchases a long-form birth certificate in the same transaction.

(2) Clerks shall pay to the state registrar such amounts as are required in R.S. 40:40. In addition, four dollars for each long-form birth certificate or death certificate issued by each clerk of court shall be remitted to the state treasurer on the tenth day of each month for deposit in the state treasury. The funds deposited shall be credited to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund. Out of the funds remaining in the Bond Security and Redemption Fund after a sufficient amount is allocated to pay all obligations secured by the full faith and credit of the state which become due and payable in any fiscal year, the treasurer shall credit to the Vital Records Conversion Fund, hereby created, an amount equal to the funds deposited under the provisions of this Section.

(3) The monies held in the Vital Records Conversion Fund shall only be appropriated with the mutual consent of the secretary of state and the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health for the following purposes:

(a) For installation and establishment of a communications network and computer hardware to provide for the electronic issuance of birth and death certificates.

(b) For maintenance of the communications network and related computer hardware.

(c) For conversion of existing birth and death records to a format suitable for electronic issuance.

(4) All unexpended and unencumbered monies in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the fund. The monies in the fund shall be invested by the treasurer in the same manner as monies in the state general fund. All interest earned on monies invested by the treasurer shall be deposited in the fund.

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in addition to fees collected for issuance of a birth record or death certificate as provided in R.S. 40:40, and Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the clerks of district court in East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish may charge an additional ten dollar fee for issuance of certified copies of birth certificates and death certificates.

C. The clerks of district courts, the clerk of the Second City Court of the city of New Orleans, and the secretary of state shall be subject to provisions of this Chapter governing confidentiality of vital records information in the same manner provided for the state registrar and provisions governing to whom a certified copy of a birth certificate or death certificate may be issued. Any birth certificate or death certificate issued by the clerk of a district court and the clerk of the Second City Court of the city of New Orleans shall be accepted as an original record.

D. The state registrar shall promulgate the rules necessary for the implementation of the provisions of this Section on or before January 1, 2015.

Acts 1986, No. 798, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1277, §1; Acts 2014, No. 763, §2; Acts 2015, No. 251, §1; Acts 2016, No. 270, §1, eff. May 27, 2016; Acts 2016, No. 390, §1.