Sec. 21-225. - Certified copies of records, searches, amendments.
(a) Upon receipt of a completed application form and the applicable fee prescribed by law, the registrar of births, deaths and stillbirths shall provide certified copies of birth certificates (conventional or wallet size), death certificates and fetal death certificates. The fee for the foregoing certificates shall be an amount equal to that imposed by the Texas Department of State Health Services for the provision of the same certificate or the amount authorized by subsection (g) of section 191.0045 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, whichever is greater. The cost for the certificates requested pursuant to this subsection shall include applicable convenience fees, envelope fees, and delivery fees, each as set forth in the city fee schedule.
The certificates requested pursuant to this subsection shall be processed and issued in order of the receipt of completed applications in the office of the registrar unless the applicant requests expedited processing and pays the additional applicable fee stated for this provision in the city fee schedule to defray the added costs associated with the special handling of the application. The aforesaid expedited processing fee shall be payable for each separate request for document copies submitted on an expedited basis, regardless of the number of different documents or the number of copies specified in the request.
(b) Any qualified person who desires to receive a copy of a birth or death certificate and who is unable to furnish a complete application form containing all information requested by the registrar of births, deaths and stillbirths may request a search of the files. Such searches shall be conducted on a first-come-first-served basis to the extent that staff resources are available, and the issuance of records under subsection (a) above shall take precedence over searches under this subsection. Additionally, searches under this subsection that are requested for purposes other than genealogical research shall take precedence over those requested for genealogical research purposes. Prior to commencing any such search of the files, the registrar of births, deaths and stillbirths shall collect a fee from the applicant in an amount equal to the search fee imposed by the Texas Department of State Health Services. If the record is found, the fee shall be credited to the copy charge. If the record is not found, the fee shall be retained as a search fee and shall not be refunded.
(c) Upon receipt of a completed application from the registrar of births, deaths and stillbirths shall provide certificates of birth facts relating to persons born in Texas to the extent that data relating to the birth is available upon the state's data base as provided to the city. The fee for each birth facts certificate issued shall be equal to that imposed by the Texas Department of State Health Services for the issuance of a birth certificate. Certificates of birth facts may be obtained on an expedited basis, subject to payment of the same additional applicable fee established in subsection (a), above.
(d) Upon receipt of a completed application form, the registrar of births, deaths and stillbirths shall provide any information contained on the death certificate as to the exact place of burial of an individual as recorded under applicable state laws and regulations. The charge for such a search of the files will be equal to that imposed by the Texas Department of State Health Services for the same service.
(e) The duties of the registrar under this section shall be performed as authorized and required by applicable state laws and regulations.
(f) The fee levied under subsection (e) of section 191.0045 of the Texas Health & Safety Code and stated for this provision in the city fee schedule shall be collected for issuance of certified copy of birth certificate, issuance of wallet-sized certification of birth, or conducting a search for a certificate of birth, whenever applicable to documents and services provided under this section. Except as provided by subsection (g) below and by subsection (f) of section 191.022 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, all fees collected under this section shall be deposited in the city treasury to the credit of the general fund of the city.
(g) As authorized by subsection (h) of Section 191.0045 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, there is hereby assessed the fee stated for this provision in the city fee schedule for the preservation of vital statistics records. This fee shall be in addition to all other fees authorized by state law or city ordinance and shall be applied and payable on the issuance of each vital statistics record. The fee assessed under this subsection shall be deposited into a fund within the city treasury to be known as the "preservation of vital statistics records fund," which is hereby created. That fund shall be expended for purposes of the preservation of vital statistics records maintained by the registrar as authorized by section 191.0045(h).
(Code 1968, § 48-5; Ord. No. 78-133, § 1, 1-3-78; Ord. No. 81-2575, § 1, 12-29-81; Ord. No. 86-405, § 1, 3-25-86; Ord. No. 87-1682, § 1, 9-20-87; Ord. No. 89-919, § 1, 6-21-89; Ord. No. 90-802, § 1, 6-27-90; Ord. No. 95-1199, § 1, 11-15-95; Ord. No. 03-1276, § 1, 12-17-03; Ord. No. 2011-1168, § 13, 12-14-2011; Memorandum of 9-12-2012; Ord. No. 2015-820, § 36, 8-26-2015; Ord. No. 2020-196, §§ 3, 4, 3-11-2020)
