ENGROSSED
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 immediate family
members and dependents if requested within one hundred and twenty
days of the veteran's death. 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.