NY Pub Health L § 4148 (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 41 - Vital Statistics Title 4 - Registration of Deaths: Burial Permits 4148 - Electronic Death Registration System.

§  4148.  Electronic  death  registration system. 1. The department is   hereby authorized and directed to  design,  implement  and  maintain  an   electronic death registration system for collecting, storing, recording,   transmitting,  amending,  correcting  and authenticating information, as   necessary and appropriate to  complete  a  death  registration,  and  to   generate such documents as determined by the department in relation to a   death  occurring in this state. As part of the design and implementation   of the system established by this section, the department shall  consult   with all persons authorized to use such system to the extent practicable   and feasible. The payment referenced in subdivision five of this section   shall  be collected for each burial or removal permit issued on or after   the effective date of this section from the licensed funeral director or   undertaker to whom such permit is issued, in the manner specified by the   department and shall be  used  solely  for  the  purpose  set  forth  in   subdivision  five  of  this  section. Except as specifically provided in   this section, the existing general duties of, and remuneration  received   by,  local  registrars in accepting and filing certificates of death and   issuing burial and removal permits pursuant to any statute or regulation   shall be maintained, and not altered or abridged  in  any  way  by  this   section.2. Commencing on the implementation date, the department shall require   that  deaths  occurring  within  this state must be registered using the   electronic  death  registration  system  established  in  this  section.   Electronic  death  registration  may  be phased in, as determined by the   commissioner, for deaths occurring in the  state  until  the  electronic   death  registration system is fully implemented in the state. As used in   this section, "implementation date" means the first day  in  January  in   the  second year after this section becomes a law, or as soon thereafter   as the commissioner reasonably determines by regulation is  feasible  in   light of the intent of this section.3.  Commencing  on  the  implementation  date, all persons required to   register a death or file a certificate of death under this article,  and   such  others as may be authorized by the commissioner, shall have access   to the electronic death registration system for the purpose of  entering   information  required  to  execute,  complete  and file a certificate of   death or to retrieve such information or generate documentation from the   electronic death registration system. The confidentiality provisions  in   section  forty-one  hundred  forty-seven  of  this  title shall apply to   information maintained in this system.4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, commencing on   or after January first, two thousand fifteen, or on such date determined   by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision two  of  this  section,  any   requirement  of this title for a signature of any person shall be deemed   satisfied by the use by such person of digital signature  provided  such   person  is  authorized  in  accordance  with  this  section  to  use the   electronic death registration system.5. Licensed  funeral  directors  and  undertakers  shall  support  the   establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  electronic  death registration   system through a payment, tendered for each burial  and  removal  permit   issued  to  a  licensed funeral director or undertaker, in the amount of   twenty dollars, provided that such payment shall be considered a cost of   operation and the funeral director or undertaker shall  not  charge  any   additional fee related to such payment for funeral or other services.