Joint Legislative Council prefatory note: This bill was prepared for the Joint Legislative Council Study Committee on Uniform Death Reporting Standards.

Current law requires a death record to contain a medical certification, which provides the cause of death, manner of death, injury-related data, and any other medically-related data that is collected as required by the state registrar at the Department of Health Services (DHS). Depending on the circumstances of the death, the medical certification may be completed and signed by a medical examiner, coroner, or physician, or by certain medical professionals with access to a decedent's medical history. Death records are registered with DHS's Office of Vital Records, which is supervised by the state registrar.

The bill requires DHS to promote and encourage appropriate training for any person who is authorized to complete and sign a medical certification under current law. The bill requires DHS to compile a recommended set of training materials and resources related to medical certification of deaths, which must be accessible to any person authorized to sign a medical certification.