HB544INTRODUCED
Page 0
HB544
G33DL26-1
By Representative Baker (N & P)
RFD: Local Legislation
First Read: 08-Apr-25
1
2
3
4
5 G33DL26-1 03/03/2025 THR (L)THR 2025-1074
Page 1
First Read: 08-Apr-25
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to Escambia County; to amend Sections
45-27-60.01, 45-27-60.02, 45-27-60.03, 45-27-60.04,
45-27-60.06, 45-27-60.07, 45-27-60.12, and 45-27-60.15, Code
of Alabama 1975; to further provide for the powers, duties,
and appointment of the county medical examiner; and to repeal
Section 45-27-60.14, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the
compensation of the county medical examiner.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. Sections 45-27-60.01, 45-27-60.02,
45-27-60.03, 45-27-60.04, 45-27-60.06, 45-27-60.07,
45-27-60.12, and 45-27-60.15, Code of Alabama 1975, are
amended to read as follows:
"§45-27-60.01
(a) The county medical examiner Escambia County Medical
Examiner shall be a physician licensed to practice medicine in
Alabama.
(b) The Escambia County Medical Examiner county medical
examiner shall be appointed by the senior state medical
examiner in Region IV of the Alabama Department of Forensic
Sciences. The appointment shall be made, with the approval of
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 2
Sciences. The appointment shall be made, with the approval of
the Director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences,
from a list of qualified physicians candidates submitted by
the Escambia County Medical Society after review by the
district attorney of the county a nominating committee
consisting of all of the following individuals:
(1) The Chair of the Escambia County Commission, or his
or her designee.
(2) The Escambia County District Attorney, or his or
her designee.
(3) The Sheriff of Escambia County, or his or her
designee.
(4) The Chief Medical Examiner of the Alabama
Department of Forensic Sciences, or his or her designee .
(c) The nominating committee shall submit a list to the
director at least 90 days before the end of a term.
(d) The appointment shall establish the Escambia County
Medical Examiner county medical examiner as a contract
employee an agent of the Alabama Department of Forensic
Sciences with the same liability coverage as provided to Merit
System employees of the State of Alabama.
(e) The county medical examiner shall serve a term of
six years beginning the first Monday after the second Tuesday
in January in the same manner and cycle as the Escambia County
District Attorney.
(f) The first county medical examiner appointed after
October 1, 2025, shall serve until the expiration of the
current district attorney term on January 20, 2029.
(g) If a vacancy occurs during a term, the Director of
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 3
(g) If a vacancy occurs during a term, the Director of
the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences shall appoint an
interim county medical examiner within 14 days of the vacancy.
The nominating committee shall submit a list to the director
within 90 days of the vacancy, after which the director shall
make an appointment to serve the remainder of the term.
(h) The Director of the Alabama Department of Forensic
Sciences may waive the requirement that the county medical
examiner be a physician when appointing an interim county
medical examiner. "
"§45-27-60.02
The Escambia County Medical Examiner shall may appoint
one or more assistant county medical examiners to assist the
investigation and certification of deaths from the list of
qualified physicians provided by the Escambia County Medical
Society. Each assistant county medical examiner shall also
have approval of the senior medical examiner of Region IV and
the Director of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences
and also shall be a contract employee of the Alabama
Department of Forensic Sciences ."
"§45-27-60.03
The county medical examiners examiner shall complete
eight hours of training in death investigation each year. The
Department of Forensic Sciences state medical examiners shall
may provide the training , or the county medical examiners may
attend other training in death investigation with prior
approval of the senior medical examiner of Region IV of the
Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. All training shall be
approved for continuing medical education credits ."
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 4
approved for continuing medical education credits ."
"§45-27-60.04
It shall be the duty of the county medical examiner, or
designated assistant county medical examinerexaminers, to
investigate any death in Escambia County when the death falls
within one or more of the following categories:
(1) Deaths that occur suddenly and unexpectedly, that
is, when the person has not been under medical care for
significant disease of the heart or lung, or other disease.
(2) Deaths suspected to be due to violence, resulting
from anyone of the following: Suicide, accident, homicide, or
undetermined injury, regardless of when or where the injury
occurred.
(3) Deaths suspected to be due to alcohol, or drugs, or
exposure to toxic agents.
(4) Deaths due to poisoning.
(5) Deaths of persons in the custody of law enforcement
officers or in penal institutions.
(6) Deaths suspected to be involved with the occupation
of the decedent.
(7) Deaths unattended by a physician.
(8) Deaths due to neglect.
(9) Any stillbirth of 20 or more weeks gestation
unattended by a physician.
(10) Deaths due to criminal abortion.
(11) Any death of an infant or child under 19 years of
age where the medical history has not established some
preexisting medical condition to clearly explain the death and
the preterminal circumstances.
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 5
the preterminal circumstances.
(12) Deaths which are possibly directly or indirectly
attributable to environmental exposure not otherwise
specified.
(13) Deaths suspected to be caused by infectious or
contagious disease wherein the diagnosis and extent of disease
at the time are undetermined.
(14) Deaths occurring under suspicious or unusual
circumstances.
(15) When a body is to be cremated, dissected, or
buried at sea.
(16) When a body is brought into Escambia County
without proper medical certification."
"§45-27-60.06
(a) After investigating a death, if the county medical
examiner or the a designated assistant is satisfied that the
death was not caused by criminal act or omission and that
there are no suspicious circumstances about the death, then
the county medical examiner, or designated assistant, may
execute a death certificate as required by law, and authorize
release of the body for final disposition on a certificate as
prescribed by the State Health Department.
(b) The county medical examiner shall contact the
office of the district attorney and the State Chief Medical
Examiner of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences under
the following circumstances:
(1) If the deceased is unidentified.
(2) If the county medical examiner suspects a death was
caused by a criminal act or omission.
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 6
caused by a criminal act or omission.
(3) If the cause of death is obscure.
(c) The In the event of a death qualifying under
subsection (b), the State Medical Examiner county medical
examiner shall further examine the body, take, retain, and
examine or have examined whatever tissues, biological fluids,
or other evidence from the body that he or she deems necessary
to determine the cause, manner, or circumstances of death, and
the identity of the deceased. The county medical examiner or
state medical examiner shall then execute a death certificate,
as required by law, and also shall authorize release of the
body for final disposition by executing a certificate required
by the State Health Department."
"§45-27-60.07
(a) An In compliance with the provisions of Section
36-18-2, an autopsy or postmortem examination may be performed
by a state medical examiner at the written direction of the
Governor, the Attorney General, a circuit judge, or the
Escambia County District Attorney or his or her authorized
representative in any case in which the Attorney General or
the district attorney is conducting a criminal investigation.
(b) The county A state medical examiner or the State
Medical Examiner may authorize an autopsy or postmortem
examination, or the autopsy may be performed by the State
Medical Examiner a state medical examiner, when the county
medical examiner suspects the death was caused by a criminal
act or omission, or the cause of death is obscure or, in his
or her opinion, an autopsy is advisable and in the public
interest.
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 7
interest.
(c) In a death where the county medical examiner does
not deem it advisable and in the public interest that an
autopsy be performed, but the next of kin of the deceased
requests that an autopsy be performed, the State Medical
Examiner, or a designated pathologist, may perform the autopsy
and the cost therefor shall be paid by the next of kin. The
funds paid by the next of kin shall be deposited by the State
Treasurer into the Forensic Services Trust Fund. "
"§45-27-60.12
The county medical examiner shall maintain the reports
of death investigations conducted by the Escambia County
Medical Examiner and a copy shall be forwarded to the Region
IV Laboratory of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
These reports, or true copies thereof duly certified by the
county medical examiner or the director of the department, are
admissible in evidence in any court in Escambia County, with
or without testimony by the county medical examiner or
Department of Forensic Sciences officials, provided, any
person preparing a report given in evidence pursuant to this
article may be summoned as a witness in any civil or criminal
case by either party to the cause."
"§45-27-60.15
Upon Beginning January 15, 1998, title and control of
all equipment in the office of the Escambia County Coroner
shall be transferred by Escambia County the county to the
county medical examiner and to the Alabama Department of
Forensic Sciences . The Escambia County Commission shall
establish a Medical Examiner Fund. Thereafter, all funds
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196 HB544 INTRODUCED
Page 8
establish a Medical Examiner Fund. Thereafter, all funds
previously appropriated by the county commission to the office
of coroner shall be appropriated to the Medical Examiner Fund.
The appropriation shall be in the amount agreed to between the
county commission and the Alabama Department of Forensic
Sciences county medical examiner's office each year, but the
amount shall not be less than the amount appropriated to the
office of the coroner in the Escambia County 1997-98 fiscal
year budget. The senior state medical examiner in Region IV of
the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, in conjunction
with the Escambia County Medical Examiner, shall review the
funding of the county medical examiner each year with the
Escambia County Commission to assure adequate support for the
investigations of death in the county. "
Section 2. Section 45-27-60.14, Code of Alabama 1975,
relating to the compensation of the county medical examiner,
is repealed.
Section 3. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2025.
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214