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/