AB 530

Under current law, coroners or medical examiners investigate certain deaths

and have various duties and powers specified by law related to deaths occurring in

this state, including receiving reports of deaths, participating in inquest

proceedings, determining causes of death, ordering autopsies, administering

provisions related to making anatomical gifts, and issuing cremation permits.

Current law provides for the election of coroners for four-year terms by the electors

of each county or of more than one county in certain cases, except that a county with

a population of 500,000 or more must, and a county with a population of less than

500,000 may, abolish the office of coroner and establish a medical examiner system.

Under the medical examiner system, a medical examiner is appointed by the county

board or, in populous counties, by the county executive. Current law does not

otherwise specify any particular requirements that an individual must fulfill in

order to hold the office of coroner or to be appointed as a medical examiner.

Licensure of coroners, medical examiners, medicolegal investigators, and

others

The bill establishes a prohibition against performing a death investigation or

performing the functions of a coroner, a medical examiner, or a person who assists

a coroner or medical examiner with a death investigation (medicolegal investigation

staff member) without a license in medicolegal investigation issued by the

Medicolegal Investigation Examining Board (board), except that the bill exempts

medical examiners who are physicians licensed by the Medical Examining Board

from this requirement. Any person who violates the prohibition may be subject to

a fine of not more than $1,000 and imprisonment of up to 90 days.

The bill requires the board to issue an initial license in medicolegal

investigation, at no charge, to every individual who is serving as a coroner,

nonphysician medical examiner, and medicolegal investigation staff member in this

state on the bill's effective date. The bill requires each such individual to complete,

prior to the next license renewal date, 40 hours of training, except that the bill allows

an individual who holds a credential, in good standing, from a nationally recognized

accreditation organization specializing in death investigation education to receive a

waiver from completing 16 of those 40 hours. The bill requires the board to provide,

at no cost, the required hours of training to these individuals.

The bill also requires the board to issue a license in medicolegal investigation

to any individual who is elected as a coroner, is appointed to fill a vacancy as a

coroner, is appointed as a nonphysician medical examiner, or is hired to serve as a

medicolegal investigation staff member after the bill's effective date, if the individual

pays any initial license fee imposed by the board. The bill generally requires such

an individual to complete 40 hours of training, but similarly allows for a waiver of

16 hours of this training and provides that an individual who was issued his or her

initial license with less than one year remaining before the next renewal date need