2023 Wisconsin Act 173

* Section 991.11, Wisconsin Statutes: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor's partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.”

  Date of enactment: March 22, 2024
2023 Senate Bill 175   Date of publication*: March 23, 2024

2023 WISCONSIN ACT 173

An Act to create 69.02 (1m) and 69.18 (2) (fm) of the statutes; relating to: recommended training for persons who complete and sign medical certifications of death.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

Joint Legislative Council prefatory note: This bill was prepared for the Joint Legislative Council Study Committee on Uniform Death Reporting Standards.

Current law requires a death record to contain a medical certification, which provides the cause of death, manner of death, injury-related data, and any other medically-related data that is collected as required by the state registrar at the Department of Health Services (DHS). Depending on the circumstances of the death, the medical certification may be completed and signed by a medical examiner, coroner, or physician, or by certain medical professionals with access to a decedent’s medical history. Death records are registered with DHS’s Office of Vital Records, which is supervised by the state registrar.

The bill requires DHS to promote and encourage appropriate training for any person who is authorized to complete and sign a medical certification under current law. The bill requires DHS to compile a recommended set of training materials and resources related to medical certification of deaths, which must be accessible to any person authorized to sign a medical certification.

173,1 Section 1. 69.02 (1m) of the statutes is created to read:

69.02 (1m) The department shall promote and encourage appropriate training for any person authorized to complete and sign a medical certification under s. 69.18 (2), and shall compile and make available to these persons a recommended set of training materials and resources related to medical certification of deaths.

173,2 Section 2. 69.18 (2) (fm) of the statutes is created to read:

69.18 (2) (fm) Any person authorized to complete and sign a medical certification under this subsection shall have access to training materials and resources recommended by the department in accordance with s. 69.02 (1m).