To all list members, Jan Meisels Allen is on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies and is Chairperson of its Public Records Access and Monitoring Committee. She has given me permission to post this to NJ list. I was previously aware of the legislative action going on in NH, but had no previous knowledge that NJ also had a BIG problem looming for genealogists. Please read the following and act upon it before it's too late. I am sending this to more than one list, so I apologize if you receive this message multiple times. Maureen J Mann -------------------------------------------------- Subject: Updates on New Hampshire and New Jersey Legislation From: Jan Meisels Allen jan@IAJGS.org Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 20:47:43 -0800 Dear IAJGS Leaders, I recently posted information about two egregious pieces of legislation that would prevent access to vital records in New Hampshire and New Jersey. This is an update on those two bills. New Hampshire HB 1382 would prohibit a public or private entity from disclosing an individual's personal information without the individual's consent. The bill defines an individual to include a deceased individual. IAJGS has submitted its letter of concern to the members of the House Judiciary Committee prior to the hearing that was held today, January 31. I checked with staff after today's hearing and learned that there were many in opposition, some in favor of the bill. New Hampshire does not vote during the public hearing but holds an executive session to do so. Thus far the executive session has not been scheduled. If the committee affirmatively passes the bill it will go to the floor of the House and if passed there, to the Senate. For further information on this bill and IAJGS model letter, go to the IAJGS website, www.IAJGS.org go to the center of the page and double click the icon of the newspaper boy holding the newspaper with "extra" saying the newest edition of the ECHO . New Jersey AB 1390 removes vital records ( birth, marriage, domestic partnership, death and fetal death records) from the definition of public records, thereby making access to such records very difficult, if not impossible. The bill was heard January 26 in the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee where it passed out affirmatively without amendments enabling genealogical copies of vital records to be continued. Currently, New Jersey's Department of Health and Senior Services does permit genealogical copies of vital records after specified time periods: 80 years after birth, 50 years after marriage and 40 years after death. The bill next goes to the floor of the Assembly, the earliest date it can be heard is February 9th. It CAN be amended on the floor during its second reading. IAJGS is talking with the sponsors of the bill to try to get it amended. The more people who voice their support for our position of permitting genealogical copies will enhance the possibility of the legislators amending the bill. IAJGS has prepared a model letter for people to write to their legislators about permitting genealogical copies. You can access this and more information on the bill on the IAJGS website at: http://www.IAJGS.org go to the center of the page and double click on the icon of the newspaper boy holding the newspaper with "extra" saying the newest edition of the ECHO. If you have any questions about these bills, please feel free to contact me. If you write to the legislators in New Hampshire or New Jersey and hear back from them, we would be interested in learning what they say. Jan Meisels Allen IAJGS director and Public Records Access and Monitoring Committee Chairperson

Dear List Members Please be assured that your GSNJ Board of Trustees is aware of this pending legislation, Assembly Bill 1390 (AB1390), and is working to have the language of the bill amended to be more friendly to genealogists. We do not want to be too hasty in our rush to react to the pending legislation. There are indications that the sponsors of the bill do not intend to prevent genealogical access to the records. In fact, there is some indication that genealogical research is one of the reasons they are considering to be an "expressly approved reason" for being able to view the records. So, the matter may be more a matter of helping them frame the bill so that the wording is more obvious and allows genealogical copies to remain a viable option as defined in Executive Order 18 signed by former Governor McGreevey. GSNJ and other NJ groups are currently working with the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies' Public Records Access and Monitoring Committee as well as the Records Preservation and Access Committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies to develop letters for constituents and their societies to send to legislators. GSNJ will be posting more information on our website soon. <<www.gsnj.org>> Regards, Joan M. Lowry, President Genealogical Society of New Jersey mailto:membership@gsnj.org website: www.gsnj.org

Thank you. Your prompt reply is appreciated. --Wendy Freborg On Feb 2, 2006, at 6:34 AM, Joan M Lowry ((GSNJ)) wrote: > Dear List Members > > Please be assured that your GSNJ Board of Trustees is aware of this > pending legislation, Assembly Bill 1390 (AB1390), > and is working to have the language of the bill amended to be more > friendly to genealogists. > > We do not want to be too hasty in our rush to react to the pending > legislation. There are indications that the sponsors > of the bill do not intend to prevent genealogical access to the > records. In fact, there is some indication that > genealogical research is one of the reasons they are considering to > be an "expressly approved reason" for being able to > view the records. So, the matter may be more a matter of helping > them frame the bill so that the wording is more > obvious and allows genealogical copies to remain a viable option as > defined in Executive Order 18 signed by former > Governor McGreevey. > > GSNJ and other NJ groups are currently working with the > International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies' > Public Records Access and Monitoring Committee as well as the > Records Preservation and Access Committee of the > Federation of Genealogical Societies to develop letters for > constituents and their societies to send to legislators. > GSNJ will be posting more information on our website soon. > <<www.gsnj.org>> > > Regards, > Joan M. Lowry, President > > Genealogical Society of New Jersey > mailto:membership@gsnj.org > website: www.gsnj.org > > > > ==== NJ-GSNJ Mailing List ==== > Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/genmag.html > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx >