I received this from one of the other list administrators. It is taken from a recent Rootsweb Review and seems important enough to bring to the attention of all of us who take our "hobby" seriously. Larry -----Original Message----- From: Pat Mount [mailto:pmount@nre.umass.edu] Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 4:37 PM To: NJMONMOU-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [NJMON] New FEDERAL Bill Will Close Records to Genealogists Breaking my own rules, I felt this important enough to forward to the list! >From Rootsweb Review today - New Bill Will Close Records to Genealogists HR10, which was mentioned in the 13 October issue of RootsWeb Review, has passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives and is now part of S.2845. The amendments suggested by David Rencher in his letter to the bill's sponsor, Congressman J. Dennis Hastert, were NOT incorporated into this legislation. Thus, the terms of HR10 will now be considered by the Senate, as part of S.2845. If S.2845 becomes law, as now written, family historians will face some real challenges in attempts to obtain birth records, even on long- deceased individuals. Specifically, what genealogists need to do is suggest to their lawmakers the addition of Sec. 3061(b)(1)(A)(iii) that would read: "who is alive on the date that access to their birth certificate is requested." This addition would clarify that the legislation (soon to be law) applies ONLY to birth certificates of CURRENTLY LIVING PERSONS. If you do not know your U.S. Senator's e-mail address, you can find it at http://www.senate.gov/ This bill can be found online at http://thomas.loc.gov/ Put in S.2845 (in the bill number window) and then select item No. 3; and go to Subtitle B--Identity Management Security; Chapter 2--Improved Security for Birth Certificates. ==== NJMONMOU Mailing List ==== Monmouth County Archives http://www.visitmonmouth.com/archives/index.asp ============================== View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find marriage announcements and more. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx