Judie Cook has asked for more information on this Bill. According to the previously amended language for SB 1614: "This bill would require the comprehensive index described above, and birth and death record indices prepared or maintained by local registrars and county recorders, to be kept confidential, except that these indices may be disclosed to government agencies as prescribed by law. This bill would exempt these indices from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. This bill would prohibit a government agency from selling or releasing these indices except as authorized by law. This bill would also prohibit specified entities and individuals from releasing any of the information contained in a comprehensive index purchased from the State Registrar prior to December 31, 2001, to a 3rd party. This bill would authorize the department to assess an unspecified civil penalty to enforce this provision against individuals and other specified entities. "This bill would require, on or before an unspecified date, the State Registrar to establish separate noncomprehensive electronic indices of all California birth and death records and make the indices continuously, electronically available to county recorders' offices statewide. "This bill would require the noncomprehensive indices to be available at the State Registrar's office and in county recorders' offices for public inspection and viewing only at computer terminals designated for this purpose , by individuals who have signed a standard form certifying, under penalty of perjury, that the information they view will not be used for criminal purposes. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, and by increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. "The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed $1,000,000. "This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. "With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. "Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes." As amended on May 30, 2002, SB 1614 has been reduced to the following: "SB 1614, as amended, Speier. Public records: vital statistics. "Existing law requires the Director of Health Services, as the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, to administer the registration of births, deaths, fetal deaths, and marriages. Existing law requires the State Registrar to arrange and permanently preserve the certificates in a systematic manner and to prepare and maintain a comprehensive and continuous index of all certificates registered. "This bill would declare the intent of Legislature to enact legislation to protect the confidentiality of birth and death record indices. "Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no . State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to protect the confidentiality of birth and death record indices." Margie Campbell of San Joaquin County commented that it was probably a combination of Senator Speier and others receiving opposition correspondence and the present state of California's budget deficit and further impending financial woes. While this might be true, the fact that the Bill was not pulled entirely by Senator Speier tends to make me believe, as Phil VanCamp noted to me, that we need continue to be vigilant. If not, they could slip this through packaged with something else that would pass before we know it. As I said, for the work that we do we use the vital statistics information to identify any family members who may be buried in unmarked graves in our over 200 historic cemeteries. The information often gives us another clue as to how to contact family descendants to advise them of the condition of the cemetery where their loved ones are at rest. In many respects, we have acted as ex-officio family genealogists for hundreds of our county's pioneer residents. PLEASE don't contact me with genealogy requests, the other half of our battle is to protect the unmarked graves in the cemeteries from being desecrated by current interments AND convincing our county of the vested (prescriptive) PUBLIC title to the vast majority of the cemeteries. We have recently received a free website hosted by US GenNet and will be producing pages about what is happening in our county. It is not a pretty tale... IF you have a genealogy inquiry, please us the US GenWeb site for El Dorado County. We frequently check those postings and respond with whatever information we may have. Let's stay vigilant on this access to public vital statistics. The internet is a valuable and powerful tool to use in order for our voices to be heard. Sue Silver El Dorado County Pioneer Cemeteries Commission