Everyone, Below is an email from David Rencher, chair of the Records Preservation and Access Committee. As you are probably aware, US House Bill 10 (the Homeland Security Bill) could drastically reduce access to birth records in the United States if not amended. All of us need to contact both Senators DeWine and Voinovich, as both of them serve on the combined committee to reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill. Time is of the essence. A decision on this will likely be made by next week. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [rpa] House Bill 10 Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:12:54 -0600 From: David Rencher <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected] Dear Delegates, The Record Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) needs your help on House Bill 10. As you may know, HB10 seeks to limit access to vital records in order to protect each of us from identity theft. The way the bill is worded, it could also limit however, our access to this information for genealogical purposes. The RPAC is recommending that the wording in the bill be adjusted to: Insert the following language as a new subsection 890A(b)(2)(E) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (see Title 6, Section 606(a) of S.2774): "shall not require a State to change its law or practice with respect to public access to (i) non-certified copies of birth certificates or to (ii) birth certificates or birth records once a period of 100 years has elapsed from the date of creation of the certificate or record." The combined Senate and House committee is meeting to adjust the language of the bill and the committee members need to hear from the genealogical community. It is particularly helpful if you live in one of the states represented by the committee members. If not, contacting someone you know in that state to make their opinion known would be the next most helpful thing you could do. If you do not live in any of these states and do not know anyone whom you could contact, then you should probably not take an action at this time other than to write to your representatives. You can get the address of the various representatives at: http://www.house.gov/ and the senators at http://www.senate.gov/ These are the members of the Conference Committee: Senate: Collins (ME) Lieberman (CT) Lautenberg (NJ) Levin (MI) Lott (MS) DeWine (OH) Roberts (KS) Rockefeller (WVA) Durbin (IL) Graham (FL) Sununu (NH) Voinovich (OH) Coleman (MN) House: Hoekstra (MI) Dreier (CA) Hyde (IL) Hunter (CA) Sensenbrenner (WI) Harmon (CA) Skelton (MO) Menendez (NJ) Thank you for your support and interest. Respectfully, David E. Rencher Chair, Record Preservation and Access Committee Gloria Motter HCGS http://www.hardincogenealogycenter.homestead.com/index.html Glory Gospel Group http://glorygospelgroup.homestead.com/Welcome.html Jesus Is My Friend