Assembly Bill 347 amends section 59.365 (3) (a) of the statutes to create an exception for certain fees charged by counties for coroner or medical examiner services. Specifically, the bill allows counties that transition from providing coroner or lay medical examiner services to physician medical examiner services between December 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, to set the fees for signing death records and issuing cremation permits at an amount exceeding the rates in effect on April 17, 2015, by up to $100. This provision allows counties to establish these fees without being restricted by changes in the U.S. consumer price index.

The bill also removes previous language that limited the fee-setting authority to counties that began providing physician medical examiner services under an intergovernmental cooperation agreement between December 31, 2015, and April 1, 2016. Additionally, the exception does not apply to counties with populations exceeding 300,000, ensuring that larger counties remain subject to the existing fee increase limitations.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text: 59.365(3)(a), 59.365