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Committee Substitute House Bill 3051 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 3051

(By Delegates Caputo, Manchin and Longstreth)


(Originating in the Committee on Finance)


[March 26, 2009]


A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5-29 of the Code of West Virginia, as amended, and to amend and reenact §59-1-10 of said code, all relating to circumstances when birth certificates and death certificates may be provided at no cost.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5-29 of the Code of West Virginia, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §59-1-10 of said code, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. VITAL STATISTICS.
§16-5-29. Fees for copies and searches.

(a) The commissioner shall prescribe the fees to be charged and collected by the State Registrar for certified copies of certificates or records, not to exceed ten dollars per copy, or for a search of the files or records when no copy is made: Provided, That the fee may be increased to a maximum of twelve dollars per copy, at the discretion of the commissioner, after the first day of July, two thousand eight.
(b) The commissioner may prescribe additional fees for the priority production or express delivery of certified copies.
(c) The State Registrar may furnish certified copies of birth and death records to state agencies and to organized charities free of charge when the certificates are needed in presenting claims to the federal government or to a state for public assistance. The State Registrar shall furnish one certified copy of a birth certificate to the parent or guardian of a child for purposes of enrolling the child in any public or private school in West Virginia, as required by section five-c, article two, of chapter eighteen of this code. The State Registrar will keep a record of all certificates furnished pursuant to this subsection.
(d) Subject to the provisions set forth in section two, article two, chapter twelve of this code, there is hereby continued in the State Treasury a separate account which shall be designated "the vital statistics account."
(e) After the first day of July, two thousand six, and subject to the provisions set forth in section two, article two, chapter twelve of this code, there is established in the State Treasury a separate account which shall be designated "the vital statistics improvement fund." Funds deposited in this account will be used to modernize and automate the system of vital statistics in this state and may not be used to supplant existing funding necessary for the daily operation of the system of vital statistics. Funds in this account will be retained in a nonlapsing fund for the improvement of the system of vital statistics.
(f) The commissioner shall deposit one dollar received under the provisions of this section for each certified copy to the "vital statistics improvement fund" and shall deposit four dollars received under the provisions of this section for each certified copy to the general revenue fund account. The commissioner shall deposit the remainder of all fees received under the provisions of this section for certified copies and for priority production and express delivery to the vital statistics account.
(g) The commissioner is authorized to expend the moneys deposited in the vital statistics account in accordance with the laws of this state as necessary to implement this article. The Legislature shall appropriate all moneys in the vital statistics account as part of the annual state budget.
(h) The commissioner shall make an annual report to the Legislature on the vital statistics account, including the previous fiscal year's expenditures and projected expenditures for the next fiscal year.
ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.
§59-1-10. Fees to be charged by clerk of county commission.
For the purpose of this section, the word "page" is defined as being a paper or electronic writing of not more than legal size, 8 ½" x 14".
The clerk of the county commission shall charge and collect the following fees:
(a) When a writing is admitted to record, for receiving proof of acknowledgment thereof, entering an order in connection therewith, endorsing clerk's certificate of recordation thereon and indexing in a proper index, where the writing is a:
(1) Deed of conveyance (with or without a plat), trust deed, fixture filing or security agreement concerning real estate lease, $15.
(2) Financing, continuation, termination or other statement or writing permitted to be filed under chapter forty-six of this code, $10.
(3) Plat or map (with no deed of conveyance), $10.
(4) Service discharge record, no charge.
(5) Any document or writing other than those referenced in subdivisions (1), (2), (3) and (4) of this subsection, $10.
(6) If any document or writing contains more than five pages, for each additional page, $1.
For any of the documents admitted to record pursuant to this subsection, if the clerk of the county commission has the technology available to receive these documents in electronic form or other media, the clerk shall set a reasonable fee to record these writings not to exceed the cost for filing paper documents.
(7) Eleven dollars of each recording fee received pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be retained by the county clerk for the operation of that office and $4 of each of the aforesaid recording fees together with $5 of the recording fee collected pursuant to subdivision (5) of this section, shall be paid by the county clerk into the State Treasurer and deposited in equal amounts for deposit into the Farmland Protection Fund created in article twelve, chapter eight-a of this code for the benefit of the West Virginia Agricultural Land Protection Authority and into the Outdoor Heritage Conservation Fund created in article two-g, chapter five-b of this code: Provided, That the funds deposited pursuant to this subdivision may only be used for costs, excluding personnel costs, associated with purpose of land conservation, as defined in subsection (f), section seven, article two-g, chapter five-b of this code.
(b) For administering any oath other than oaths by officers and employees of the state, political subdivisions of the state or a public or quasi-public entity of the state or a political subdivision of the state, taken in his or her official capacity, $5.
(c) For issuance of marriage license and other duties pertaining to the marriage license (including preparation of the application, administrating the oath, registering and recording the license, mailing acknowledgment of minister's return to one of the licensees and notification to a licensee after sixty days of the nonreceipt of the minister's return), $35.
(1) One dollar of the marriage license fee received pursuant to this subsection shall be paid by the county clerk into the State Treasury as a state registration fee in the same manner that license taxes are paid into the Treasury under article twelve, chapter eleven of this code;
(2) Fifteen dollars of the marriage license fee received pursuant to this subsection shall be paid by the county clerk into the State Treasury for the Family Protection Shelter Support Act in the same manner that license taxes are paid into the Treasury under article twelve, chapter eleven of this code;
(3) Ten dollars of the marriage license fee received pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited in the Courthouse Facilities Improvement Fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
(d) (1) For a copy of any writing or document, if it is not otherwise provided for, $1.50.
(2) If the copy of the writing or document contains more than two pages, for each additional page, $1.
(3) For annexing the seal of the commission or clerk to any paper, $1.
(4) For a certified copy of a birth certificate, death certificate or marriage license, $5: Provided, That upon request, a county clerk shall issue without cost up to five certified copies of a veteran's death certificate to a veteran's family members and dependents. Additional copies must be purchased at the regular fee except when one death certificate is necessary to obtain benefits from the federal or state government as provided in section twelve- a, article four, chapter fifty-one of this code. Family members, dependents or funeral directors with written permission from the family members or dependents may pick up the certificates at the office of the clerk of the county commission. For purposes of this subdivision, the word "veteran" means any person who has served in the Armed Forces of the United States, Military Reserves or National Guard and who was not dishonorably discharged from such service.
(e) For copies of any record in electronic form or a medium other than paper, a reasonable fee set by the clerk of the county commission not to exceed the costs associated with document search and duplication.


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