§34. Vital records forms

            A.(1) The certificate forms prescribed by the state registrar shall include, as a minimum, birth certificates, death certificates, paternity acknowledgment affidavits, and any other forms recommended by the national office in charge of gathering vital statistics. Only these forms shall be used in registering, recording, and preserving the vital information required by this Chapter. These forms shall be typewritten in black type or written in jet black ink or transferred by electronic means. Additionally each certificate of a birth occurring in a licensed hospital shall be typewritten in black type or computer generated. Whenever a form is changed, the new form shall be furnished to the person charged with preparing it not less than thirty days prior to the date upon which the form shall be required to be used.

            (2) The Louisiana Department of Health shall promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to allow electronic registration in lieu of typewritten or written birth, death, fetal death, marriage, and divorce certificates.

            B. The forms shall be printed and supplied or provided by electronic means by the state registrar.

            C.(1) Each coroner or physician who signs a death certificate shall certify the certificate using the Louisiana Electronic Event Registration System of the Louisiana Department of Health, state registrar of vital records.

            (2) Each coroner shall report drug overdose deaths where the decedent's toxicology results indicate that an opioid was present at the time of death and related to the overdose. The reporting shall be entered into the Louisiana Electronic Event Registration System of the Louisiana Department of Health, state registrar of vital records.

            Acts 1979, No. 776, §1. Amended by Acts 1983, No. 624, §1; Acts 1986, No. 621, §1; Acts 1986, No. 876, §1; Acts 1987, No. 343, §1; Acts 1987, No. 360, §1; Acts 1989, No. 819, §1; Acts 1990, No. 238, §1; Acts 1990, No. 349, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 1990; Acts 1991, No. 688, §1, eff. July 18, 1991; Acts 1991, No. 820, §1; Acts 1993, No. 740, §1; Acts 1993, No. 775, §1, eff. Aug. 15, 1994; Acts 1995, No. 954, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1252, §1, eff. July 15, 1997; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 8, §4, eff. April 24, 1998; Acts 1999, No. 834, §1, eff. July 2, 1999; Acts 2000, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 136, §1; Acts 2001, No. 690, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1118, §1; Acts 2003, No. 1239, §1, eff. July 7, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1251, §1; Acts 2004, No. 26, §13; Acts 2006, No. 344, §5, eff. June 13, 2006; Acts 2006, No. 377, §1; Acts 2008, No. 561, §§2, 3; Acts 2012, No. 255, §6; Acts 2016, No. 217, §1, Acts 2016, No. 434, §3; Acts 2018, No. 672, §1, eff. January 1, 2019; Acts 2019, No. 423, §1, eff. June 20, 2019.