I'm passing along the following info I received from the MI-WAYNE Rootsweb Mailing List about Senate Bill 0795 and the release of vital records over 75 years old to the State Registrar's office here in Michigan. I certainly wasn't aware that this Bill was pending and I'm thrilled to hear about it. I'm enclosing a copy of the note that I sent to my State Representative urging her to support the Bill and, in addition, to strengthen the Bill to make it mandatory for the State Registrar to establish an Internet-based mechanism to make these records and indexes of the records easily available to public. (Of course, I added my own personal slant on my plea.) I hope everyone subscribing to this list (and other MI lists) will take the time to support the Bill and pass the word along! Message Board Post: To all genealogists living in Michigan. Please write your State Representative and urge him or her to support Senate Bill 0795 which would allow the State Registrar's Office to release certain vital records over 75 years old to the State Library of Michigan in order to be made available to the public and aid genealogical research. See the following for the text of the bill as it was passed by the State Senate: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(b05te445dkzcrmawzrybyb45)/mileg.aspx?page=BillS tatus&objectname=2005-SB-0795 The following website will help you find your representative: http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp Subject: Support for Senate Bill 795 (Release of Vital Records for Genealogical Research) Dear Rep. ----------: I'm sure that you're aware that genealogical research is increasingly popular -- especially in the African-American community -- as people are increasingly eager to discover and connect with their past heritage. For example, Dr. Henry Lewis Gates recently hosted a series on PBS showing how he researched the family trees of Oprah Winfrey, Whoopie Goldberg, TD Jakes, Chris Rock and Dr. Ben Carsons, as well as his own family. The series and the family stories that unfolded as a result of Dr. Gates' research were extremely compelling and moving. However, this kind of genealogical research is entirely dependent upon the public availability of vital records of births, marriages and deaths. Michigan lags far behind many other states and Canada in actually making vital records easily available to the public for genealogical purposes by imposing antiquated and arbitrary time frames for the release of records and failing to maintain a centralized authority to collect and disperse this information in a manner that it may be easily accessed by individuals throughout the State. Unlike other states, such as Illinois, Michigan doesn't currently maintain a comprehensive Internet-based mechanism for making vital records readily available to the public. Instead, Michigan maintains only some limited (and incomplete) information on early Michigan deaths online. I'm therefore writing to urge you to support Senate Bill 0795 which would allow the State Registrar's Office to release certain vital records over 75 years old to the State Library of Michigan in order to be made available to the public and aid genealogical research. Because the State Library of Michigan is located in Lansing and therefore isn't accessible to many Michigan residents (especially seniors and lower-income residents) I'm also urging you to take steps to strengthen Senate Bill 0795 by making it mandatory for the State Registrar to: (1) establish an Internet-based mechanism to make these vital records available to the public with Internet access; and (2) actually transmit these vital records and indexes of these records to local governmental authorities, public libraries and private entities such as genealogical societies. Senate Bill 0795 only makes these two steps optional, thereby defeating the purpose of the Bill, in my opinion. The following is a link for the text of the bill as it was passed by the State Senate: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(b05te445dkzcrmawzrybyb45)/mileg.aspx?page=BillS tatus&objectname=2005-SB-0795 Again, I urge you to support Senate Bill 0795 and to take steps to strengthen the bill requiring the State Registrar to establish appropriate mechanisms (including an Internet-based mechanism) to disseminate both the actual vital records and indexes of these vital records locally. Sincerely,