I hope my fellow genealogy enthusiasts will listen to this. Ohio enacted a similar bill and it has made some research EXTREMELY difficult. Please contact you legislators. Kathy Hines, President, Hardin Co. Ohio Genealogy Society -----Original message----- From: Teresa Delikat flott_genealogy@yahoo.com Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:43:05 -0500 To: PA Huntingdon County Rootsweb pahuntin@rootsweb.com Subject: [PAHUNTIN] Pennsylvania Open Records Law > Pennsylvania Open Records Law > By Justin K. Houser > Bellefonte, Pennsylvania > > Pennsylvania is considering an Open Records Law, > currently known as House Bill 343. In its current > state, the bill would "deem inaccessible" any record > containing a birth date or address, among other items. > If interpreted literally, this bill would seal birth, > marriage, death, deed, probate, divorce, and hosts of > other county court records. > > For as long as can be remembered, these records have > been publicly accessible (with the exception of birth > and death records after 1906, which are available > through an application process), and have been > abstracted, indexed, published, and disseminated in > whole or in part by many genealogical societies. > > Going to the county offices and wading through these > records is not the major source of identity theft this > bill makes it out to be. > > Identity theft derives chiefly from carelessness with > correspondence, which is rummaged through by thieves > after it is discarded, or by thieves obtaining credit > card and other information through fraudulent > communications. This bill would make the work of > genealogists, local historians, missing heirs, > researchers, and individuals seeking to trace the > history of a particular piece of property nearly > impossible. > > I feel that the genealogical community needs to make > its voice known by contacting the Pennsylvania > Legislature and the governor's office to voice > opposition to House Bill 343--particularly Section > 307--and to push for an exception to be made in the > case of the county "row office" records that have > traditionally been available. In no way should the > centuries-old ability to use these records by > law-abiding citizens be shut off. > > We already have provisions in place to protect the > most sensitive of these records. Marriage records do > not even contain Social Security Numbers--they were > redacted and are no longer visible. The same could > be done with other instances of Social Security > Numbers, which are generally not necessary in most > public documents. (The Social Security Numbers of all > deceased persons are already posted online at the > Social Security Death Index. Rather than enhancing > identity theft, this tool prevents it by enabling > individuals to quickly check for fraudulent uses of > Social Security Numbers.) Adoption records are > sealed and accessible only by court order. Records of > births and deaths are available for a $9.00 fee from > the Department of Health. > > Other states are making their records more accessible, > rather than less accessible. Several years ago, Texas > released the index to births, marriages, and deaths as > an online database, covering the years 1905 to the > present. The city of Chicago, Illinois, is planning > to digitize and release its records for historical > inquiry in January. > > California has released a complete index to its death > registers from 1940 to 1997. Ohio has also made death > record indices available for a nominal cost, and > records can be ordered through the state by any > interested party. Arizona has released its death > records via a public website, as has Utah and West > Virginia, which I believe is also contemplating a > similar procedure for marriage records. Georgia is > releasing all of its death records to online public > access, beginning with 1919. > > The leadership of the Pennsylvania Legislature can be > found here: > > House: > http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house/office > rs.cfm > Senate: > http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senate/offic > ers.cfm > Governor: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/ > > For information about subscribing, unsubscribing, and to search or browse the PAHUNTIN mailing list archived messages, visit http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/PA/huntingdon.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PAHUNTIN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message