To follow up on Michelle's e-mail. In NJ, it is very easy to contact your NJ representatives. You can make yourself heard within 5 minutes. The State Legislature website make it easy and here is how. (1) To find out who they are, go here: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp (2) Look for your town, see what district your area is in and click on the town name. (3) This will take you to the district number(s) for that town. Find you district (if more than one for the town) and click on the appropriate district number. (4) Click on any one of the legislators listed - it does not matter who. (5) Click on that legislator's "contact your legislator(s)" link. (6) When that is clicked you have the option of selecting all 3 legislators. Select all three and click the select button (7) Tyhis brings you to a page where you write and send your message. That's it. Take the time (5 minutes) and have your voice heard. - John Michelle Chubenko <michelle@chubenko.us> wrote: *** TIME SENSITIVE *** NJ Vital Statistics: Proposed Fee Increase & Rule Changes Dear NJ Genealogical Community, As published in the "New Jersey Register" (1), the Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration has published "Proposed Readoption with Amendments: N.J.A.C. 8:2 for Birth Certificates" and "Proposed New Rules: N.J.A.C. 8:2A" for Death Certificates". You may view the text of these proposals: Birth Records: http://www.state.nj.us/health/rules/njac8_2birth_cert.pdf Death Records: http://www.state.nj.us/health/rules/njac8_2a_death_rec.pdf As part of their "readoption" and "new rules", the Bureau of Vital Statistics is proposing to increase the search fee from $4 to $25. This increase would make NJ one of the most expensive states for vital records. In the US, only 4 states are currently charging $20+ for vital record searches -- MA, NY, OR, and AK. When reviewing the cost for vital records searches in the US, I found the national average is $12... half of the proposed new search fee in NJ. Also, in the "Proposed New Rules: N.J.A.C. 8:2A for Death Certificates" under 8:2A-1.2 Definitions: "Genealogical records" - they have proposed 'Records of death are considered genealogical after 50 years have passed from the date of death.' This is a 10 year increase from the current 40 year restriction. http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/writein.shtml You are encouraged to send written comments by 3/19/05 to: Joseph A. Komosinski, State Registrar DHSS PO Box 370 Trenton, NJ 08625-0370 Also, if you live in NJ, please copy your local legislaters (State Senators & Assemblymen) on your letter to the State Registrar. Source: 37 N.J.R. 172-182 (New Jersey Register, Tuesday, January 18, 2005, p172-182. -- 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ukraine WorldGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukrwgw/index.html NJGenWeb: Monmouth County - http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmonmo2 OKGenWeb Adair Co.: http://www.rootsweb.com/~okadair/adaircty.htm AdairCoArch: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ok/adair/adair.html Shell'sHomePg: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mchub/shell.htm ==== NJHUNTER Mailing List ==== This mail list is archived at: http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/index/NJHUNTER ============================== Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com