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April 16, 2026 Clouds | 68°F
The 194th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Bill S.1540 194th (Current)

An Act protecting personal identifying information on records of death

By Mr. Finegold, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1540) of Barry R. Finegold for legislation to make it unlawful to disclose identifying information contained in death records. Public Health.

Bill Information

Presenter:
Barry R. Finegold

Death certificates; privacy

Removes a decedent's social security number from their publicly available death certificate, creating a new class of unredacted, restricted death certificate containing the SSN that may only be accessed by the decedent's next of kin, a legal agent or government agency, and the funeral home. A copy of the death certificate without the SSN will remain a public record.

* The bill summary was created by the Primary Sponsor of the bill; no committee of the General Court certifies the accuracy of its contents.

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