**OFFICE OF**  **THE ATrORNEY**  **GENERAL OF**  **TEXAS AUSTIN** 

HonorableW. A. Davis State Registrar of Vital Statistics Texas State Board d Health Austin, Texas
Dear Sir:

upon the followi equest for an opinion

the State Reg-

, or the State to aaa to the **aiti0m iteas.**  istrar force the medbirth or the person se of death to su2rlly for in these additional

ame Article, ws find that Rule hat a birth and also a death cerbe filed for a stillbornchild rate certificatesof both the he death shall be filed. * Would age require these certificates to be printed on separate pieces of paper, or **would** a stillbirthcedificate includinga certificateof birth ad a certifictite of death signedby the undertaker,or person who buried the body, and the medical attendant who attendedthe birth, and callingfor all the informtion set out in Rule .&Oa

and Rule 47a oomply with the requirements of Rule 39a?R

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Rule 406 of Article 4.477, Vernon'sAnnotated Civil Statutes,provides that a certificateof death cdntein some twenty-oneitems %eoessary for the legal, social, anI sanitarypurposes subservedby registrationrecords." They are enumeratedin the section.

four items

Rule 47s of the same article lists some twentyof information

which the certificateof birth

_ shell contain.

Article 781a, Vernon's AnnotatedCriminal Statutes, provides,among other things, in respect to a violationof provisionsas to vital statistics:

"Thet any person, who for himself or as an officer,agent, or employee ol any other perso!, or of any corporationor partrx3%ip

. . . (a) being requiredby this Act to fill out a certificcat6 of birth or death and file the sane with the local registrar,or **aem** er it, upon request, to any person chargedwith theduty of filing the same, shall fail, neglect, or refuse to perform such duty in the manner requiredby this Act
. . . shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon convictionthereof shell for the first offensebe fined not less than five dollars ($5.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($SO.OO),and for each subsequentoffense not less than ten dollars ($10.00)nor more than one hundred dollars I$lOO.OO), or be imprisoned in the county jail not more then sixty days, or be both fined and Imprisoned."
Article 781a, as quoted above,would apply to any person required to fill out a death or bdrth certificate under Rules f,Oa

ana .L7a,

Article l&77, Vernon'sAnnotated Civil Statutes.

Article U77, supra, relating to vital statistics, is a legisaive exercise of the state's polioe power enacted in the interest of the public health. The Legislature has "deemednecessary* **ana** enumerstedcertain items of informationwhich every birth and death certificateshould contain. The violation of these statutoryprovisionsrelating to birth and death certificatesis punishableby fine and imprisonment. Article 781a, Vernon'sAnnotated Criminal statutes.Honorable W. A. Davis, Fag6 3

The authorityof the State Health Officer, the State Departmentof Health, and the State Registrar is set out in Rules 34a and 35b and other rules, of Article 4477, sum, and it does not include the power to add additional items to the%irth or death certificates. In the absence of au express delegationof this authority to them by the Legislature,the State Board of Health, the State Health Officer, and the State Registror, a0 not possess it. They can only administerthe law, e.tId are without legisletive power to augment or add to the requirementof the law. Furthermore,since violationof the law is a misdemeanor, punishableby fine and imprisonment,the law must be strictly construedand only the exact provisionsof the law itself are enforceable.

It IS our opinionana you are so advised, that the State Health Department,the State Hath Officer, and the State Registrar have no authority express or knpliecl to add to the items required of death or birth certificates under Sections LOa and f+7a, and Article 4477, v=rnon'sAnnotated Civil Statutes,and consequently may not force the aedical attendant in case-efbirth or the person who buried the body in case of death to supply the informationcalled for in additional items.

Turning to ymr third question,we wish to quote the first sentenceof Rule 39a of Article J&77, supra:

"That a stillborn childbe registeredas a birth and also as a death, and separate certificates of both the birth and the death shall be filed with the local registrar, in the usual foxm and manner, the certificateof birth to contain in place of the name of the child, the word 'stillbirth', etc."
We must assume that the Legislature in using the word Wseparate"as an adjectiveemployed it in its ordinary and acceptedmeaning, that is, in the case of tr.ings that have not been connectedas %nconneoted", "not united or assooiatedW,or naistinct.W

Since the word Wseparate*customarilysuggests QnconnectedN and "distinct"objects or things, in using it in respect to Wcertificateof both the birth and the death", we feel that the Legislaturehad separatepieces of paper as well as separate forms in mind. Y3eparaten oertificates~are

equivalent to Vnconnected" or "distinct* certificateswhich could only mean different sheets ofHonorable W. 'A.Davis, Page 4

paper for the two fem.

It is our o i&n that the requirementof Rule 39a of Article 4477, &ernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, that useperate certificatesof both the birth and the deathof a stillborn child be filed with the local registrar means separate sheets of paper for separate forms instead of one sheet of paper designated %tillbirth certifica~ew and containing two forms, one for.birthand one for death.

Trusting that we have fully answeredyour.inquiries, we are Very truly yours

BY

DS:L?d
APPROVED DEC 4, 1939

GERALDC.XANN ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEUS Dick Stout Assistant

APPROVED OPINION CWITrEE~ BY B. 7:.

B. CHAIRMAN