Friends, relatives and genealogists in general: The President of my local genealogical society has just passed a warning regarding California SB 1614. If passed, this bill will close all inquiries to birth and death indices in California. The Senator sponsoring believes that this will put a major dent in identity theft. The Senator apparently has not considered what impact it will have on genealogical research. It is my understanding that the CA Senate Appropriations Committee plans to vote on the bill Monday, May 20. California is the largest state (population wise) and can have a major impact on other states. I live in WA and we're more closely tied to CA than we sometimes care to admit. If this is of concern to you, please email one (or all) of the following: Governor Gray Davis governor@governor.ca.gov Sen Jackie Speier (author) senator.speier@sen.ca.gov Sen Dede Alpert (Chair, Appropriations Comm.) senator.alpert@sen.ca.gov. Thanks, Jim