Kathy & all, I'm not sure what you mean by "national", but hope this cover it. :) Vital records maintenance/access are mandated by each state's regulations/laws. Remember, it is a document created by the state. Thus, the Federal Government cannot tell the states *how* to make their records secure, available, etc. to the public. However, in December the President signed into law S2845/HR10 "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act of 2004" which had the following... "Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the States, shall establish minimum standards for issuance of a birth certificate to specific family members, their authorized representatives, and others who demonstrate that the certificate is needed for the protection of the requestor's personal or property rights." This law is not telling the states *how* to go about creating/enforcing, just that they *need* to do it. Unfortunately, FGS, NGS and other organizations/individuals did propose language to retain "plain copy" or non-ID copies for the public. This language was not incorporated into the bill. So, I'm not sure if the A1390 is in response to S2845/HR10, but I do know that Jersey City and Paterson did have illegal activity with vital records. Which leads me to believe, that A1390 is in response to these local issues and not the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act of 2004". You can read GSNJ's letters (2004) to US Congressmen Lautenberg and Corzine regarding S2845/HR10 on our website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/legislation.html Emails were posted to the NJ-L mailing list in December 2004: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/NJ/2004-12 FYI... The Federation of Genealogical Societies does maintain a Records Preservation and Access webpage: http://www.fgs.org/rpa/ Hope this helps!! Michelle KEIsleib wrote: > I am sorry to bother you Michelle, but if this passes, how long will it take to national? > > Kathy > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Michelle Chubenko<mailto:michelle@chubenko.us> > To: NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 11:36 AM > Subject: Re: [GSNJ] NJ vitals > -- Michelle Tucker Chubenko Professional Genealogist: http://www.chubenko.us/profgen/index.htm "Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up." - James A. Garfield

Please send this to Patricia Matthews of PA. She is in a group called "The_Courthouse_Gang" at yahoo groups. I can't make a dent in her email to find out if she has seen this or not. Kathy ----- Original Message ----- From: Michelle Chubenko<mailto:michelle@chubenko.us> To: NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 12:32 PM Subject: Re: [GSNJ] NJ vitals Kathy & all, I'm not sure what you mean by "national", but hope this cover it. :) Vital records maintenance/access are mandated by each state's regulations/laws. Remember, it is a document created by the state. Thus, the Federal Government cannot tell the states *how* to make their records secure, available, etc. to the public. However, in December the President signed into law S2845/HR10 "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act of 2004" which had the following... "Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the States, shall establish minimum standards for issuance of a birth certificate to specific family members, their authorized representatives, and others who demonstrate that the certificate is needed for the protection of the requestor's personal or property rights." This law is not telling the states *how* to go about creating/enforcing, just that they *need* to do it. Unfortunately, FGS, NGS and other organizations/individuals did propose language to retain "plain copy" or non-ID copies for the public. This language was not incorporated into the bill. So, I'm not sure if the A1390 is in response to S2845/HR10, but I do know that Jersey City and Paterson did have illegal activity with vital records. Which leads me to believe, that A1390 is in response to these local issues and not the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act of 2004". You can read GSNJ's letters (2004) to US Congressmen Lautenberg and Corzine regarding S2845/HR10 on our website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/legislation.html<http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/legislation.html> Emails were posted to the NJ-L mailing list in December 2004: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/NJ/2004-12<http://archiver.rootswebcom/th/index/NJ/2004-12> FYI... The Federation of Genealogical Societies does maintain a Records Preservation and Access webpage: http://www.fgs.org/rpa/<http://www.fgs.org/rpa/> Hope this helps!! Michelle KEIsleib wrote: > I am sorry to bother you Michelle, but if this passes, how long will it take to national? > > Kathy > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Michelle Chubenko<mailto:michelle@chubenko.us<mailto:michelle@chubenko.us>> > To: NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com>> > Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 11:36 AM > Subject: Re: [GSNJ] NJ vitals > -- Michelle Tucker Chubenko Professional Genealogist: http://www.chubenko.us/profgen/index.htm<http://www.chubenko.us/profgen/index.htm> "Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up." - James A. Garfield ==== NJ-GSNJ Mailing List ==== GSNJ Newsletter: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/newsletter.html<http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/newsletter.html> ============================== Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx<http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx>