WyleneLAlston@aol.com wrote: > >The NARA proposal to revamp the system and fees for providing copies of > >>| Military Service Records, Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Files, and > >>| Pension Application Files has been published in the 25 April 2000 issue > >>| of the Federal Register. Public comment is invited and should be > >>| directed to > >>| > >>| NARA Regulation Comment Desk > >>| 8601 Adelphi Road > >>| College Park, MD 20740-6001 > >>| Fax: 301 713-7270 > >>| > >>| The comment period closes on 26 June 2000. NARA prefers that you use > >>| either the postal address or fax number to submit our comments rather > >>| than e-mail. > >>| A complete copy of the Federal Register notice is available from the > >>| NARA Web site at http://www.nara.gov/nara/fees-pro.html. > >>| > >>| The proposed Reproduction Fee Schedule covers a number of items, but the > >>| Military Service Records, and the Pension and Bounty-Land Warrants are > >>| of the greatest concern to genealogists. NARA proposes three major > >>| changes: > >>| > >>| 1. The NATF Form 80 would be discontinued, to be replaced by two new > >>| forms: NATF Form 85 to request both Bounty-Land Warrant application > >>| files and Pension files (more than 75 years old), and NATF From 86 to > >>| request Military Service Records (more than 75 years old). > >>| > >>| 2. For all three types of files, NARA would no longer send a selection > >>| of pages, but would send the complete file. This would eliminate the > >>| two-step process currently used and should be beneficial to most > >>| genealogists. > >>| > >>| 3. The fees for all three types of files would be raised. For Military > >>| Service Records the new fee would be $17.00, regardless of the number of > >>| pages included in the file. For Bounty-land Warrants the fee would be > >>| $17.25, again without regard to the number of pages. For Pension Files > >>| the fee would be $40.00, regardless of the number of pages. > >>| > >>| Finally, the proposal would go into effect on 1 September 2000, if > >>| approved. > >>| > >>| Many genealogists may consider the proposed fees to be excessive. NARA > >>| specifically invites comment on the proposed fee schedule. The FGS/NGS > >>| Records Preservation and Access Committee urges everyone who wants to > >>| comment to carefully read the full proposal before submitting comments. > >>| The proposed fees are intended to cover the actual cost of locating, > >>| copying and mailing the records, plus 10% as authorized by law, and are > >>| based on the average size of the files. NARA states that the average for > >>| Military Service Records and Bounty-land Applications is somewhere under > >>| 20 pages, while the average for full Pension Files is 105 pages. > >>| > >>| The FGS/NGS Records Preservation and Access Committee will be looking at > >>| the NARA proposal carefully, and will submit comments as appropriate. > >>| Individuals who would like to provide input to the Committee's > >>| evaluation are welcome to do so but are also encouraged to comment > >>| direct to NARA at the address given above. Comments for Committee > >>| consideration should be e-mailed to fgs-access@fgs.org, or mailed to > >>| Federation of Genealogical Societies, Attention: RPAC, PO Box 200940, > >>| Austin, TX 78720-0940. In order for the Records Preservation and Access > >>| Committee to adequately evaluate such input it must be received by 26 > >>| May 2000. The deadline for comment to NARA, however, is still 26 June > >>| 2000. > >>| > >>| Posting of this message to other mail lists is encouraged. A copy of > >>| this message will also be available on the Records Preservation and > >>| Access page of the FGS Web site <http://www.fgs.org/fgs-recordsnews.htm> > >>| and on the NGS Web site <http://www.ngsgenealogy.org> --