The Senate Human Services Committee voted 6-0 to give a do-pass recommendation to House Bill 1068, which consolidates statutory language about autopsy records, working papers and visual materials and clarifies the conditions under which those records may be released.

Kirby Krueger, director of Disease Control and Forensic Pathology at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee the bill moves provisions from North Dakota Century Code 44-04-18.18 into Title 23 to create a single statutory location for records and image-release rules. "All of the current authorized releases outlined and currently outlined in century code 44 0 4 18.18 have been carried over to '23," Krueger said.

Krueger outlined three bill sections: clarifying definitions (distinguishing autopsy reports from notes and working papers), moving rules about autopsy photographs and other images into Title 23, and amending funeral-practice language to permit funeral home employees to perform gravesite services in the same manner as the public. The bill also specifies that a decedent's child must be 18 or older to request and receive a copy of the autopsy report and authorizes the maternal mortality review committee and the suicide fatality review commission to receive autopsy reports under specific conditions.

Committee members asked about what becomes public and the role of county coroners. Krueger said the statutorily defined "report of death" — the part that identifies the individual and the cause and manner of death — becomes a public record eight days after completion. He confirmed that county coroners have access to necessary information and described variation in county coroner qualifications across the state: "It can be a medical provider... it defaults to the sheriff, or the sheriff's designee," Krueger said.

Krueger said the state forensic pathologist position at the Department of Health and Human Services was vacant at the time of testimony and that the department contracts with the University of North Dakota for eastern cases; "Doctor Mazzello ... works 2 days a week for us," Krueger said.

After testimony and questions the committee moved and seconded a do-pass recommendation; the roll call was unanimous. Committee members who sponsored the funeral-practice amendment included a House member with funeral-industry experience, which Krueger said explained the amendment’s origin.

Votes at a glance: House Bill 1068 — Do pass recommendation; committee vote 6-0.