---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to death records maintained and provided by the vital statistics unit of the Department of State Health Services."
description: "Relating to death records maintained and provided by the vital statistics unit of the Department of State Health Services."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "88"
identifier: "SB 545"
citation: "Texas SB 545 (88)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["BIRTH & DEATH CERTIFICATES (S6418)", "Elections--Administration (I0277)", "Health--General (I0385)", "SECRETARY OF STATE (V0042)", "STATE HEALTH SERVICES", "DEPARTMENT OF (V0463)", "VITAL STATISTICS & RECORDS (S2714)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kolkhorst", "Toth"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 44
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-23"
last_action: "2023-06-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8ee6a048-d5d1-44ec-a7ee-167a1269dfb1"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/88R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00500_SB00599/SB 545.xml"
source_hash: "f3240dea2f6aee3d10a7caf79c791457c91520aa03854d317056366d1eb2bccc"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas SB 545 (88) — Relating to death records maintained and provided by the vital statistics unit of the Department of State Health Services.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00545I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00545E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00545H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00545S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00545F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **141–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kolkhorst — primary (person)
- Toth — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-01-23** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-23** Filed `filing`
- **2023-02-17** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-17** Referred to Health & Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-08** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2023-03-08** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-03-08** Testimony taken in committee
- **2023-03-08** Vote taken in committee
- **2023-03-13** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-13** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-03-13** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2023-04-03** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-04-03** Laid before the Senate `receipt`
- **2023-04-03** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment `reading-2`
- **2023-04-03** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-04-03** Three day rule suspended
- **2023-04-03** Record vote
- **2023-04-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-03** Passed `passage`
- **2023-04-03** Record vote
- **2023-04-03** Reported engrossed
- **2023-04-03** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2023-04-12** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-04-12** Referred to Elections `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-17** Considered in formal meeting
- **2023-05-17** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-20** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2023-05-20** Committee report distributed
- **2023-05-20** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2023-05-21** Considered in Calendars
- **2023-05-23** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2023-05-23** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-23** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2023-05-24** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-24** Passed `passage`
- **2023-05-24** Record vote
- **2023-05-24** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-24** House passage reported `passage`
- **2023-05-24** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-25** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2023-05-26** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2023-05-29** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-18** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-06-18** Effective on 9/1/23 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8ee6a048-d5d1-44ec-a7ee-167a1269dfb1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).