§ 4999. Definitions
As used in this part:
(1) “Issuing agent” means a town clerk or duly authorized representative of the State
Registrar who issues certified and noncertified copies of birth and death certificates
from the Statewide Registration System.
(2) “Licensed health care professional” means a physician, a physician assistant, or an
advanced practice registered nurse. As used in chapter 107 of this part only, the
term also includes a naturopathic physician.
(3) “Municipality” or “town” means a city, town, village, unorganized town or gore, or
town or gore within the unified towns and gores of Essex County.
(4) “Noncertified copy” means a copy of a vital event certificate issued by a public agency
as defined in 1 V.S.A. § 317, other than a certified copy.
(5) “Office of Vital Records” means an office of the Department of Health responsible
for the Statewide Registration System and with the authority over vital records provided
by law.
(6) “Registrant” means the individual who is the subject of a vital event certificate.
(7) “Statewide Registration System” or “System” means:
(A) the sole official repository of data from birth and death certificates registered
on or after January 1, 1909; and
(B) such other data related to vital records as the State Registrar may prescribe.
(8) “Town clerk” or “municipal clerk” or “clerk” means a town clerk, a city clerk, a county
clerk acting on behalf of an unorganized town or gore, or the supervisor of the unified
towns and gores of Essex County, or a town official or employee designated by the
same to act on his or her behalf.
(9) “Vital event certificate” means a birth, death, marriage, or civil union certificate
or a report of divorce, annulment, or dissolution. “Vital event certificate” does
not include any confidential portion of a report of birth or of death or of a marriage
or civil union license or application.
(10) “Vital record” means:
(A) a report of birth, death, fetal death, or induced termination of pregnancy or a preliminary
report of death;
(B) a vital event certificate;
(C) a marriage or civil union license;
(D) a burial-transit permit; and
(E) any other records associated with the creation, registration, processing, modification,
or disclosure of the records described in this subdivision (10). (Added 2017, No. 46, § 1, eff. July 1, 2019; amended 2023, No. 6, § 154, eff. July 1, 2023; 2023, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), § 2a, eff. June 6, 2024; 2025, No. 20, § 7, eff. May 13, 2025.)