§ 40:33 — Vital records registry; establishment; general authority and duties of state registrar

§33. Vital records registry; establishment; general authority and duties of state registrar
A. There is hereby established a central vital records registry within the office of
public health and a registrar of vital records for the state with an office properly equipped and
operated for the safety and preservation of all vital records covering the births, deaths,
marriages, divorce judgments, adoptions, and change of names, made and received under this
Chapter or under the regulations adopted by the Louisiana Department of Health.
B. The vital records registry shall be directed by the state registrar who shall enforce
this Chapter and the regulations made pursuant thereto and shall investigate all cases of
irregularity in preparation and filing of vital records. Documents shall not be registered until
such irregularities have been resolved.
C. Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, the secretary of the Louisiana
Department of Health shall make and amend, after due notice and hearing, in accordance
with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, regulations necessary for the
efficient performance of a single adequate system of vital records for this state, and shall give
instructions for collecting, transcribing, compiling, analyzing, reporting, preserving, and
issuing certified copies of vital records.
D. The domicile of the vital records registry shall be in the parish of Orleans. All
suits or mandamus actions brought against the registry shall be brought in the parish of
Orleans.
E. The appointment of the state registrar shall be in accordance with the civil service
law and regulations.
F. The state registrar, with the approval of the secretary of the Louisiana Department
of Health shall prescribe, print, and supply each parish with all certificate forms or reports
provided for in this Chapter. The local registrar shall supply such forms to every hospital,
clinic, almshouse, lying-in hospital, or other institution, public or private, including penal
institutions, located in his registration district to which persons resort for treatment of disease
or injury or for childbirth or are committed by process of law and to all physicians in his
registration district.
G. Any person having knowledge of the facts shall furnish such information as he
or she may possess regarding any birth, death, spontaneous fetal death, induced termination
of pregnancy, marriage, or divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment, upon demand of
the state registrar. Nothing in this Section or Chapter shall be construed to require the person
charged by R.S. 40:45 with preparing birth certificates to make other than a reasonable effort,
as defined in R.S. 40:44, to obtain missing information or signature.
H. Repealed by Acts 2010, No. 175, §6.

Legislative History

Acts 1979, No. 776, §1. Amended by Acts 1986, No. 876, §1; Acts 1991, No. 820, §1; Acts 2010, No. 175, §6; Acts 2013, No. 220, §17, eff. June 11, 2013.