MOGgould@cs.com wrote: > The NARA proposal to revamp the system and fees for providing copies of > Military Service Records, Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Files, and > Pension Application Files has been published in the 25 April 2000 issue of > the Federal Register. Public comment is invited and should be > directed to > NARA Regulation Comment Desk > 8601 Adelphi Road > College Park, MD 20740-6001 > Fax: 301 713-7270 > > The comment period closes on 26 June 2000. NARA prefers that you use either > the postal address or fax number to submit our comments rather than e-mail. > A complete copy of the Federal Register notice is available from the NARA > Web site at http://www.nara.gov/nara/fees-pro.html. > The proposed Reproduction Fee Schedule covers a number of items, but the > Military Service Records, and the Pension and Bounty-Land Warrants are of the > greatest concern to genealogists. NARA proposes three major changes: > 1. The NATF Form 80 would be discontinued, to be replaced by two new forms: > NATF Form 85 to request both Bounty-Land Warrant application files and > Pension files (more than 75 years old), and NATF From 86 to request Military > Service Records (more than 75 years old). > 2. For all three types of files, NARA would no longer send a selection of > pages, but would send the complete file. This would eliminate the two-step > process currently used and should be beneficial to most genealogists. > 3. The fees for all three types of files would be raised. For Military > Service Records the new fee would be $17.00, regardless of the number of > pages included in the file. For Bounty-land Warrants the fee would be $17.25, > again without regard to the number of pages. For Pension Files the fee would > be $40.00, regardless of the number of pages. > > Finally, the proposal would go into effect on 1 September 2000, if approved. > Many genealogists may consider the proposed fees to be excessive. NARA > specifically invites comment on the proposed fee schedule. The FGS/NGS > Records Preservation and Access Committee urges everyone who wants to comment > to carefully read the full proposal before submitting comments. The proposed > fees are intended to cover the actual cost of locating, copying and mailing > the records, plus 10% as authorized by law, and are based on the average size > of the files. NARA states that the average for Military Service Records and > Bounty-land Applications is somewhere under 20 pages, while the average for > full Pension Files is 105 pages. > The FGS/NGS Records Preservation and Access Committee will be looking at the > NARA proposal carefully, and will submit comments as appropriate. > Individuals who would like to provide input to the Committee's evaluation are > welcome to do so but are also encouraged to comment direct to NARA at the > address given above. Comments for Committee consideration should be e-mailed > to fgs-access@fgs.org, or mailed to Federation of Genealogical Societies, > Attention: RPAC, PO Box 200940, Austin, TX 78720-0940. In order for the > Records Preservation and Access Committee to adequately evaluate such input > it must be received by 26 May 2000. The deadline for comment to NARA, > however, is still 26 June 2000. > Posting of this message to other mail lists is encouraged. A copy of > this message will also be available on the Records Preservation and > Access page of the FGS Web site http://www.fgs.org/fgs-recordsnews.htm> > and on the NGS Web site <http://www.ngsgenealogy.org> > **** > > Peggy Clemens Lauritzen > LDS and Professional Genealogist > Searching SE KY and SW VA > "Every family tree has some sap in it!"