New legislation recently introduced by State Sen. Dr. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, would task the state Department of Public Health (CDPH) to create and manage a California Electronic Violent Death Reporting System.
SB 877, which is co-authored by Sen. Bill Monning and Assemblymember Rob Bonta, reads that the system would collect data statewide from death certificates, police reports, coroner and medical examiner records, and other sources.
“We know that the statistics are staggering — there were more mass shootings in America where four or more people were shot or killed than there were days in the year in 2015,” Pan said in a Jan. 19 statement. “Gun violence is a threat to public health, yet researchers cannot fully confront the crisis and save lives because we lack tracking.”
The legislation would allow CDPH to apply for grants from the Centers for Disease Control or funding from private organizations or foundations in order to pay for the reporting system. CDPH would contract with counties to collect the data, according to a statement from Pan.
This wouldn’t be the first time California tries such a database. The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) was created in 2002 and CDPH and 14 California counties contributed to the national database from 2005-08, according to the department’s website.
“During its four years of data collection, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) compiled detailed information on circumstances of more than 10,000 violent deaths, including homicides and suicides. … Unfortunately, due to its size, decentralized government, privacy concerns and lack of resources among law enforcement agencies, California was unable to obtain law enforcement records required by NVDRS and could not reapply for funding.”
Then the department went on to create the Web-based California Electronic Death Registration System (CA-EDRS), which processes more than 250,000 death certificates per year. The data is under the control of the Office of Vital Records.
SB 877 has been referred to the Committee on Health.
