Hello All In light of recent discussions on this list regarding NJ Vital Records access, I thought that you should have more information on the serious piece of pending legislation that would remove virtually all Vital Records from the realm of Public Records, Assembly Bill 1390. In addition to making the records non-public, the bill would further restrict who would be allowed to obtain copies and would allow only "viewing" of the records to others. The bill also would make it against the law to "transfer, sell, share, reproduce or otherwise disclose the information to another party." There would be penalties for disclosing the information that could be serious fines or even jail time. I don't know how anyone can write a history book, article, or anything else if you can't share the information, or provide a documented source for the information. The proposed bill, Assembly Bill 1390, is a product of the Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee. You can see the proposed language at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/A1500/1390_I1.PDF. You can also get there from the Genealogical Society of New Jersey's website www.gsnj.org by going to the page for Legislative Alerts (the direct page link is: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/legislation.html.) This bill may be heard by the Assembly as early as March 2. I urge you to make contact with the sponsors of the bill via fax or email as soon as possible to ask them to amend the bill. There is a summary sheet on the GSNJ website that gives more information on the bill and proposed amended language. There are also sample letters for use by individuals and by societies and organizations. See the Legislative Alerts page on the GSNJ website I would welcome any comments or assistance that can be offered to help us get the bill changed before it is too late! My email address is: mailto:jml-gsnj@earthlink.net Thank you very much. Sincerely, Joan M. Lowry, President Genealogical Society of New Jersey www.gsnj.org