(1) Beginning with calendar year 2005 and each calendar year thereafter, one-third of the funds transmitted to the department pursuant to section 304(b) during the prior calendar year and deposited in the Vital Statistics Improvement Account and one dollar ($1) of each fee received pursuant to section 804.1 in the prior calendar year and deposited in the Vital Statistics Improvement Account shall be distributed not later than June 30, 2005, and each June 30 thereafter, to the county coroner or medical examiner of each county of this Commonwealth proportionate to the number of deaths in the county as a percentage of the total deaths occurring in this Commonwealth in the prior calendar year. Such distribution shall not require a contract or grant agreement.

(2) Funds remaining after the distribution under paragraph (1) shall be retained in the Vital Statistics Improvement Account and shall be used for administrative expenses of the department for implementing and maintaining the system for such payments under paragraph (1) and for improvements to the vital statistics system.

(3) County coroners or medical examiners shall use the funds received under this section for the purposes of laboratory or necropsy room modernization, including supplies, equipment, training and office and laboratory facility improvement or the modernization of equipment used for forensic investigation.