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 Commit-
tee 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 cir-
cumstances 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 appro-
priate 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 mate-
rials and resources related to medical certification of deaths,
which must be accessible to any person authorized to sign a
medical certification.
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 autho-
rized 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.
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 rec-
ommended by the department in accordance with s.
69.02 (1m).
* 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.”