SB1640 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 08847 BDA 18902 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB1640

Introduced 2/4/2025, by Sen. Napoleon Harris, III

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

410 ILCS 535/11	from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-11
410 ILCS 535/18	from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-18

Amends the Vital Records Act. In provisions regarding information required on forms, provides that (i) the decision with respect to burial or cremation shall be made by the authorized person and shall be properly communicated to relevant persons within 7 days after a death, and (ii) the funeral director shall indicate the name of cemetery on the death certificate within 7 days before burial. In provisions regarding death certificates, provides that (i) the administrator of the nursing home, hospital, or hospice facility where the death occurred shall be responsible for creating the death registration file in the electronic reporting system for death registrations, and (ii) signatures may be electronic.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Vital Records Act is amended by changing Sections 11 and 18 as follows:

(410 ILCS 535/11) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-11)

Sec. 11. Information required on forms.

(a) The form of certificates, reports, and other returns required by this Act or by regulations adopted under this Act shall include as a minimum the items recommended by the federal agency responsible for national vital statistics, subject to approval of and modification by the Department. All forms shall be prescribed and furnished by the State Registrar of Vital Records.

(b) On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1983, all forms used to collect information under this Act which request information concerning the race or ethnicity of an individual by providing spaces for the designation of that individual as "white" or "black", or the semantic equivalent thereof, shall provide an additional space for a designation as "Hispanic".

(c) Effective November 1, 1990, the social security numbers of the mother and father shall be collected at the time of the birth of the child. These numbers shall not be recorded on the certificate of live birth. The numbers may be used only for those purposes allowed by Federal law.

(d) The social security number of a person who has died shall be entered on the death certificate; however, failure to enter the social security number of the person who has died on the death certificate does not invalidate the death certificate.

(e) If the place of disposition of a dead human body or cremated remains is in a cemetery, the burial permit shall include the place of disposition. The place of disposition shall include the lot, block, section, and plot or niche, and depth, if applicable, where the dead human body or cremated remains are located. The decision with respect to burial or cremation shall be made by the authorized person and shall be properly communicated to relevant persons within 7 days after a death. The funeral director shall indicate the name of cemetery on the death certificate within 7 days before burial. This subsection does not apply to cremated remains scattered in a cemetery.

(f) The death certificate for an individual with a history of military service may include or may be amended to include the branch of the military that the deceased individual served in, the period of time that he or she served in the military, and whether a military service-related injury contributed to the cause of death.

(Source: P.A. 103-406, eff. 1-1-25.)

(410 ILCS 535/18) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-18)

Sec. 18. (1) Each death which occurs in this State shall be registered by filing a death certificate with the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred or the body was found, within 7 days after such death (within 5 days if the death occurs prior to January 1, 1989) and prior to cremation or removal of the body from the State, except when death is subject to investigation by the coroner or medical examiner. If a death occurs in this State in a county outside the deceased's county of residence, the local registrar of the district in which the death certificate was filed shall, within 7 days of its filing, send a copy of the death certificate to the local registrar in the district where the deceased's county of residence is located.

(a) For the purposes of this Section, if the place of death is unknown, a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which a dead body is found, which shall be considered the place of death.

(b) When a death occurs on a moving conveyance, the place where the body is first removed from the conveyance shall be considered the place of death and a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which such place is located.

(c) The administrator of the nursing home, hospital, or hospice facility where the death occurred funeral director who first assumes custody of a dead body shall be responsible for creating the death registration file in the system under Section 18.5, and the funeral director who first assumes custody of a dead body shall be responsible for filing a completed death certificate. He or she shall obtain the personal data from the next of kin or the best qualified person or source available; he or she shall enter on the certificate the name, relationship, and address of the informant; he or she shall enter the date, place, and method of final disposition; he or she shall affix his or her own signature, which may be electronic, and enter his or her address; and shall present the certificate to the person responsible for completing the medical certification of cause of death. The person responsible for completing the medical certification of cause of death must note the presence of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, clostridium difficile, or vancomycin-resistant enterococci if it is a contributing factor to or the cause of death. Additional multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) may be added to this list by the Department by rule.

(2) The medical certification shall be completed and signed within 48 hours after death by the certifying health care professional who, within 12 months prior to the date of the patient's death, was treating or managing treatment of the patient's illness or condition which resulted in death, except when death is subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation. In the absence of the certifying health care professional or with his or her approval, the medical certificate may be completed and signed by his or her associate physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant, the chief medical officer of the institution in which death occurred, or the physician who performed an autopsy upon the decedent.

(3) When a death occurs without medical attendance, or when it is otherwise subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation, the coroner or medical examiner shall be responsible for the completion of a coroner's or medical examiner's certificate of death and shall sign the medical certification within 48 hours after death, except as provided by regulation in special problem cases. If the decedent was under the age of 18 years at the time of his or her death, and the death was due to injuries suffered as a result of a motor vehicle backing over a child, or if the death occurred due to the power window of a motor vehicle, the coroner or medical examiner must send a copy of the medical certification, with information documenting that the death was due to a vehicle backing over the child or that the death was caused by a power window of a vehicle, to the Department of Children and Family Services. The Department of Children and Family Services shall (i) collect this information for use by Child Death Review Teams and (ii) compile and maintain this information as part of its Annual Child Death Review Team Report to the General Assembly.

(3.5) The medical certification of cause of death shall expressly provide an opportunity for the person completing the certification to indicate that the death was caused in whole or in part by a dementia-related disease, Parkinson's Disease, or Parkinson-Dementia Complex.

(4) When the deceased was a veteran of any war of the United States, the funeral director shall prepare a "Certificate of Burial of U. S. War Veteran", as prescribed and furnished by the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, and submit such certificate to the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs monthly.

(5) When a death is presumed to have occurred in this State but the body cannot be located, a death certificate may be prepared by the State Registrar upon receipt of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction which includes the finding of facts required to complete the death certificate. Such death certificate shall be marked "Presumptive" and shall show on its face the date of the registration and shall identify the court and the date of the judgment.

(Source: P.A. 102-257, eff. 1-1-22; 102-844, eff. 1-1-23; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-741, eff. 8-2-24.)