For Immediate Release
May 7, 2009
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Senate Approves Tomlinson Bill to Protect Privacy of Deceased Individuals

The Senate approved legislation this week sponsored by Senator Tommy Tomlinson (R-Bucks) to eliminate the requirement that local registrars transmit death certificates to county boards of elections.

Tomlinson said the Senate bill 446 would preserves the confidentiality of deceased individuals by limiting the amount of information that is transmitted by registrars on death certificates.

"The purpose of the law is to communicate a death to take someone of the voting rolls, and revealing the cause of death is irrelevant." Tomlinson said. "This legislation would ensure that there is privacy regarding a person's cause of death." 

Tomlinson's bill would require the Department of Health to transmit monthly to the Department of State an electronic file containing information on all resident deaths, except residents less than 18 years of age. The Department of State would then enter this information into the "SURE system" (the statewide registry of electors), which is used by the county boards of elections to purge the names of deceased voters.

Senate Bill 446 now goes to the House for consideration.

Contact:

Fran Cleaver
(717) 787-5072