Dear Senator Speier: We have recently learned that there is a move underway by you to introduce legislation that would restrict access to birth records in the State of California. Already, it would appear, this matter has caused the internet company, Rootsweb.com, to pull their online database from their genealogy website. Senator Speier, in our non-profit work to identify the descendants of families buried in our long-neglected historic cemeteries, we have come to rely on the California Birth Records database that Rootsweb.com has offered. We also rely heavily on their database for the California Death Records Index. Each is a pivotal component to the compilation and correlation of information necessary for us to identify if there are family members buried in unmarked graves in our cemeteries that are at risk of being buried over by newer interments. Without the online information, our work would be greatly hindered. If access to California vital statistics information is restricted in the manner we have been told your pending legislation may accomplish, our efforts will be completely hindered and thwarted. Our non-profit corporation does not charge for the research we perform, and it is included in what are called "Interment Identification Listings" that supplement "tombstone inventories," which are presently the only records of burials in the over 200 cemeteries in our county. Genealogy has become the second largest "hobby" in America. The ability to access birth, marriage and death records helps all Californians to accomplish their individual family studies. In addition, family descendants from around the nation and the world have benefited from the databases that have been FREELY offered by Rootsweb.com. I personally gave up on my family genealogy studies in the late 1970's because I could not afford to pay a researcher in the United Kingdom or to travel there myself to locate the information I needed. Because of the information that Rootsweb.com posts to their internet site, I have located information about my own family for my own study that I abandoned so many years ago. As I understand it, your pending legislation is an attempt to halt identity theft and I would agree that that type of activity does happen. However, again we see measures being taken to thwart the few at the expense of the many. America was not built on a foundation that can support the continual taking of the civil rights of the majority in order to rein in the minority. I would urge you to review this matter of identity theft more closely to better identify just how often information that is found online is being misused. Then I would recommend that you survey the various genealogy groups throughout California and the nation, and find out just how many people are benefited by this access to the birth and death information. I'm certain you will be surprised at the result of this survey and the many thousands and thousands of people who are benefited from it's online availability. Respectfully, Sue Silver, President El Dorado County Pioneer Cemeteries Commission 2551 Deer Trail Lane Cameron Park, CA 95682 (530) 677-8525 Email: ssilver1951@jps.net