HB 5196 would amend Connecticut’s vital records law to require registrars of vital statistics to issue two forms of death certificates: a standard death certificate and a short-form death certificate. Both forms would include basic identifying information about the decedent, including name, date of death, town of death, date of birth, and Social Security number.
The bill also limits access to the short-form death certificate when it includes the decedent’s Social Security number. Under the proposal, only a surviving spouse or next of kin could obtain that version. The measure appears aimed at standardizing death certificate issuance while adding a privacy safeguard around sensitive personal information.
Impact
If enacted, the bill would amend chapter 93 of the Connecticut General Statutes governing vital statistics and death records. It would require local registrars to provide both standard and short-form death certificates and would create a statutory restriction on who may receive the short-form version containing a Social Security number. The practical effect would be to formalize certificate formats and tighten access to sensitive death record data for family members and authorized requesters.
Sentiment
There is no recorded committee transcript or vote history in the provided material, so no formal debate or recorded sentiment is available. Based on the bill text alone, the proposal appears administrative and privacy-oriented rather than controversial, with an emphasis on standardizing records and limiting disclosure of Social Security numbers.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the available materials. Potential issues that could arise from the bill’s language include whether registrars can operationally implement two certificate formats, how “next of kin” would be determined for access purposes, and whether the inclusion of Social Security numbers on a short-form certificate is necessary despite the access restriction. However, these concerns are not reflected in any recorded discussion or vote in the provided context.