I rec'd this today from a Yahoo group to which I subscribe. I thought some of you might find it interesting. Vickie "In an effort to bring Pennsylvania into the current century; this grass roots effort may help. Thank you Joe Bryer Requesting Genealogists/Researchers/Historians Lobbying Participation People For Better Access To Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR) We are asking for your help in a grassroots lobbying campaign to make older Pennsylvania state death certificates available on-line. As you may already know, all death certificates recorded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1906 have restricted access and require the knowledge of when and where the person died, the expenditure of $9 and a wait of 5 weeks or longer for each and every death certificate, regardless of how long ago the person died. We're sure many of you have experienced the frustration of either being told they couldn't find the death certificate or being sent the wrong death certificate. Several other states have already made their older death certificates available on-line including Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, Utah and West Virginia. But Pennsylvania continues its outdated and costly process of issuing these older death certificates one at a time. We understand the concerns about privacy, identity theft and terrorism. However, there is no reason to keep all of these records restricted indefinitely. Therefore, our basic proposal is that the death certificates that would be accessible on-line would have to be at least 50 years old (and if necessary for extra security persons born more than 100 years ago). Currently that would mean only persons who died before 1957 (and if necessary were born before 1907) would be made accessible on-line. As each year passes the next year in line would be added to this on-line database. Federal census records are available after 72 years. The Social Security death index is actually fairly recent. There are numerous other records available on-line that are far more worrisome than our proposal could ever be. We are asking you to contact certain Pennsylvania state officials, preferably in writing or in person since it will have the most impact, but at least by phone or email. As we understand it only the Pennsylvania State Legislature can change the law. The governor would have to approve this change and the Pennsylvania Department of Health would have to implement any change. If you live in Pennsylvania please contact your representatives in the state legislature in person, by letter, by phone or at the very least by email. Everyone, including out of state residents, should write, phone or at the very least email to the governor and even the Division of Vital Records. Naturally the more letters and other forms of contact that are made and the more people involved the better. Here is an example of what our goal is. This one is for the State of West Virginia: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx or (www.wvculture.org) (Archives and History) (Births, Deaths, and Marriages) (Deaths) Page 1 of 2 Contact information for Pennsylvania State Representatives can be found at: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm or (www.legis.state.pa.us) (Find Members By) Contact information for Governor Ed Rendell can be found at: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/governor/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=437853&governorN or (www.governor.state.pa.us/governor) (Contact the Governor) Contact information for Pennsylvania Vital Records Division: Pennsylvania Department of Health Division of Vital Records 101 South Mercer Street PO Box 1528 New Castle, PA 16101 Telephone: 1-877-PA-HEALTH or (724) 656-3100 Facsimile: (724) 652-8951 Talking points: 1. In the long run, having older death certificates available on-line would be a cost savings to the state and the state gets away from the antiquated system of searching for each record one at a time. 2. The public would be much better served. 3. The age and year of birth guidelines will prevent identity theft and guard against terrorism. 4. There is no practical reason all of these records should be kept confidential indefinitely especially after a fairly long lapse of time. 5. Other states have already made death certificates available on-line. Why not, Pennsylvania? Contact person: Tim Gruber 610-791-9294" timarg@rcn.com

What a great idea! I have long lamented the online inaccessibility of Pennsylvania records as opposed to those of our neighboring states. One of my surnames is Vascsak. It is spelled so many ways, and no one clerk would care enough to check for all variants. I would if I could but see an index. I'm on board with this! How about you? Bonz -----Original Message----- From: pawashin-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:pawashin-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Victoria Hospodar Valentine Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:47 AM Cc: PAWASHIN@rootsweb.com; PAALLEGH@rootsweb.com Subject: [PAWASHIN] "People For Better Access To Pennsylvania HistoricalRecords" I rec'd this today from a Yahoo group to which I subscribe. I thought some of you might find it interesting. Vickie "In an effort to bring Pennsylvania into the current century; this grass roots effort may help. Thank you Joe Bryer Requesting Genealogists/Researchers/Historians Lobbying Participation People For Better Access To Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR) We are asking for your help in a grassroots lobbying campaign to make older Pennsylvania state death certificates available on-line. As you may already know, all death certificates recorded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1906 have restricted access and require the knowledge of when and where the person died, the expenditure of $9 and a wait of 5 weeks or longer for each and every death certificate, regardless of how long ago the person died. We're sure many of you have experienced the frustration of either being told they couldn't find the death certificate or being sent the wrong death certificate. Several other states have already made their older death certificates available on-line including Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, Utah and West Virginia. But Pennsylvania continues its outdated and costly process of issuing these older death certificates one at a time. We understand the concerns about privacy, identity theft and terrorism. However, there is no reason to keep all of these records restricted indefinitely. Therefore, our basic proposal is that the death certificates that would be accessible on-line would have to be at least 50 years old (and if necessary for extra security persons born more than 100 years ago). Currently that would mean only persons who died before 1957 (and if necessary were born before 1907) would be made accessible on-line. As each year passes the next year in line would be added to this on-line database. Federal census records are available after 72 years. The Social Security death index is actually fairly recent. There are numerous other records available on-line that are far more worrisome than our proposal could ever be. We are asking you to contact certain Pennsylvania state officials, preferably in writing or in person since it will have the most impact, but at least by phone or email. As we understand it only the Pennsylvania State Legislature can change the law. The governor would have to approve this change and the Pennsylvania Department of Health would have to implement any change. If you live in Pennsylvania please contact your representatives in the state legislature in person, by letter, by phone or at the very least by email. Everyone, including out of state residents, should write, phone or at the very least email to the governor and even the Division of Vital Records. Naturally the more letters and other forms of contact that are made and the more people involved the better. Here is an example of what our goal is. This one is for the State of West Virginia: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx or (www.wvculture.org) (Archives and History) (Births, Deaths, and Marriages) (Deaths) Page 1 of 2 Contact information for Pennsylvania State Representatives can be found at: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm or (www.legis.state.pa.us) (Find Members By) Contact information for Governor Ed Rendell can be found at: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/governor/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=437853&governorN or (www.governor.state.pa.us/governor) (Contact the Governor) Contact information for Pennsylvania Vital Records Division: Pennsylvania Department of Health Division of Vital Records 101 South Mercer Street PO Box 1528 New Castle, PA 16101 Telephone: 1-877-PA-HEALTH or (724) 656-3100 Facsimile: (724) 652-8951 Talking points: 1. In the long run, having older death certificates available on-line would be a cost savings to the state and the state gets away from the antiquated system of searching for each record one at a time. 2. The public would be much better served. 3. The age and year of birth guidelines will prevent identity theft and guard against terrorism. 4. There is no practical reason all of these records should be kept confidential indefinitely especially after a fairly long lapse of time. 5. Other states have already made death certificates available on-line. Why not, Pennsylvania? Contact person: Tim Gruber 610-791-9294" timarg@rcn.com **** Please visit http://www.chartiers.com/pages-new/pawashin.html for list information, particularly the bottom of the page. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PAWASHIN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.0/1076 - Release Date: 10/17/2007 7:53 PM