> << 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> >> > >