A 8214: Provides for a window of eighteen months for people to receive birth, death, marriage, and dissolution of marriage records without paying a fee.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8214 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY May 5, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SAYEGH -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law and the domestic relations law, in relation to providing for a window of eighteen months for people to receive certain vital records without paying a fee; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Protect 2 Our Vote Act" or the "POV Act". 3 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 4173 of the public health law, as 4 amended by chapter 288 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as 5 follows: 6 3. [(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this subdivi- 7 sion, the registrar shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars for each 8 certification of birth or death or for each certified copy or certified 9 transcript of any record of a birth or of a death or for a certification 10 that a search discloses no record of a birth or of a death, furnished by 11 him to an applicant, except that no fee shall be charged for a search, 12 certification of birth or death or certified copy or certified tran- 13 script of a birth or a death record to be used for school entrance, 14 employment certificate or for purposes of public relief or government 15 compensation or when required by the veterans administration to be used 16 in determining the eligibility of any person to participate in the bene- 17 fits made available by the veterans administration, provided, however, 18 that if such registrar is a city clerk, town clerk or village clerk, he 19 shall collect such fees for and on behalf of the city, town or village 20 in which he serves, provided, however, that an amount equivalent to the 21 sum of such fees shall be paid at least monthly by such city, town or 22 village to such city clerk, town clerk or village clerk entitled to 23 receive fees as a registrar of vital statistics. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD11790-01-5 
 A. 8214 2 1 (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subdivision, in the follow- 2 ing county jurisdictions the fee shall be set by the county health 3 commissioner: Chemung, Monroe, Onondaga, Tompkins; and in the following 4 local jurisdictions the fee shall be set by the local legislative body: 5 city of Oswego, city of Albany, city of Jamestown. In such jurisdic- 6 tions, the fee may be set up to the amount charged by the commissioner 7 as prescribed in subdivision two of section forty-one hundred seventy- 8 four of this title.] The registrar shall not be entitled to any fee for 9 any certification of birth or death or for any certified copy or certi- 10 fied transcript of any record of a birth or of a death or for any 11 certification that a search discloses no record of a birth or of a 12 death, furnished by the registrar to an applicant. 13 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 4174 of the public health law, as 14 amended by section 2 of part W2 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is 15 amended to read as follows: 16 2. Each applicant for a certification of birth or death, certificate 17 of birth data or for a certified copy or certified transcript of a birth 18 or death certificate or certificate of birth data shall not be required 19 to remit to the commissioner with such application [a] any fee [of thir- 20 ty dollars in payment for the search of the files and records and the 21 furnishing of a certification, certified copy or certified transcript if 22 such record is found or for a certification that a search discloses no 23 record of a birth or of a death]. 24 § 4. Subdivisions 6 and 7 of section 4139 of the public health law, as 25 amended by section 1 of part W2 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, are 26 amended to read as follows: 27 6. The commissioner shall not be entitled to [a] any fee [of thirty 28 dollars] for each certification, certified copy or certified transcript 29 of certificate of dissolution of marriage furnished. 30 7. For a search of the files where no such certification, certified 31 copy, or certified transcript is furnished, or for a certification that 32 a search discloses no record of a dissolution of marriage, the commis- 33 sioner shall not be entitled to [a] any fee [of thirty dollars]. 34 § 5. Section 20-a of the domestic relations law, as amended by section 35 6 of part W2 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as 36 follows: 37 § 20-a. Certified transcripts of records; state commissioner of health 38 may furnish. The state commissioner of health or person authorized by 39 [him] them shall, upon request, supply to any applicant a certified 40 transcript of any marriage registered under the provisions of this arti- 41 cle, unless [he is] they are satisfied that the same does not appear to 42 be necessary or required for judicial or other proper purposes. Any 43 transcript of the record of a marriage, when properly certified by the 44 state commissioner of health or person authorized to act for [him] them, 45 shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts 46 therein stated. For any search of the files and records conducted for 47 authorized research purposes, the state commissioner of health shall not 48 be entitled to [a] any fee [of twenty dollars for each hour or frac- 49 tional part of an hour of time of search, together with a fee of two 50 dollars] for time spent searching or for each uncertified copy or 51 abstract of such marriage record requested by the applicant[, said fees 52 to be paid by the applicant]. [Each] No applicant for a certified tran- 53 script of a marriage record shall remit to the state commissioner of 54 health [a] any fee [of thirty dollars in payment] for the search of the 55 files and records and the furnishing of a certified copy if such record 
 A. 8214 3 1 is found or for a certification that a search discloses no record of a 2 marriage. 3 § 6. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 4 have become a law and shall expire and be deemed repealed eighteen 5 months after such effective date.