Forwarding on behalf of NGS and FGS: Please be aware that the National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies believe strongly that California State Senate Bill 1614 on Vital Records Indexes poses a significant threat to records access in the state of California. These two national organizations have approved and sent the following joint resolution and petition to the Senate Appropriations Committee in California. We encourage you to contact your California Senator to defeat this bill. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Joint Resolution and Petition from The Federation of Genealogical Societies And The National Genealogical Society The Federation of Genealogical Societies with headquarters in Austin, Texas, a national and international organization of societies, representing fifty-five genealogical societies in California and over 50,000 genealogists and family historians in that state, and further representing 550 societies nationwide with approximately one-half million genealogists and family historians being members of those societies, and The National Genealogical Society with headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, recognized as the leading genealogical society in the United States and North America, having approximately ten percent of its membership in California, do make the following joint resolution and petition to the legislature of the State of California; Whereas, California State Senate Bill 1614 on Vital Records Indexes threatens to reduce the information available in the birth and death record indexes rendering them significantly less useful and/or limit the use and access by genealogical researchers and family historians, and Whereas, both organizations consider these records to be primary to the pursuit of discovering an individual's heritage and history; in fact, central to the human need that answers the yearning deep inside each of us to know who we are and from where we came; and Essential for the youth of our nation to help develop a sense of their cultural heritage and to provide a strong foundation in a world of shifting values; and For the youth to research their families and learn, for example, how their families overcame hardships in the past which can give them answers to some of the challenges they face today; and that This curiosity and need crosses cultural and international boundaries, in a way, uniting us as a human family; and Whereas, both organizations are equally concerned about the issue of identity theft and are fully supportive of state and local leaders acting responsibly to protect the rights and property of the people they are called to serve, Do petition the California State legislature to find a balanced solution to the matter of protecting the rights of the citizens of the great State of California from identity theft while still providing sufficient access to the records for the continued use by genealogists and family historians for the legitimate pursuit of tracing ones' heritage and ancestry. Further, we believe these two objectives are not mutually exclusive and offer the following for your consideration; According to the First Amendment Coalition, recent studies confirm that most identity thefts occur through the literal theft by friends, relatives, fellow workers or strangers, of wallets, purses or mail, or fraudulent address changes; and That many of the county recorders do not have the manpower or funding to facilitate the requirements of SB1614 and that the lack of uniformly implementing the proposed bill would render it ineffective for its intended purpose; and That we understand the powerful tool that mother's maiden name is in uniquely identifying an individual in a given population; that the intersection of two surnames dramatically improves the statistical probability above chance that two individuals are the same person, thus being an extremely useful tool to genealogists and family historians to identify individuals with common surnames within a given population; and That this information (particularly mother's maiden name) is readily available in open sources, namely newspapers, especially obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, cemetery tombstones, Who's Who publications, professional directories and published biographies, and That corporations such as American Express, use individual identifiers other than the mother's maiden name which are not found on the vital records indexes, namely the last four digits of the social security number and that due to the open availability of the identity of the maiden name of a person's mother making it readily available for identity theft, that banks and other financial institutions be encouraged to discontinue the use of the mother's maiden name as a unique identifier, and That the State of California consider adopting legislation which provides both a level of adequate security and access by genealogists and family historians; and that the legislation from the states of Arizona and/or Kentucky may be used as an appropriate model. This resolution and petition was adopted by the executives and board of directors of both the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society at the annual meeting of the National Genealogical Society held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, dated 18 May 2002. Submitted on behalf of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society by: Dean J. Hunter Curt B. Witcher President, President, Federation of Genealogical Societies National Genealogical Society