Dear Mr. Davis, The action of yours that is the subject of this message is the Veto of Historic Cemetery Bill SB2027 & AB1779. This legeslation is of great interest to a greying population. The large and growing population of genealogically interested Californians are fortunate to live in a state with open access to valuable records like the Birth, Marriage and Death indexes. I've used these to great advantage in building my family history. Since my family arrived in CA in 1846 via the Donner Party, there are California branches of my family of whom my parents had forgotten. But the those open records within the state have enabled me to reconstruct much of what was lost to them. I am convinced that those who live in other states are envious of the open access this provides to the researcher, as only Texas has such convenient access available. The far sighted predecessors of yours, governors that is, acceded to the wishes of the population to relenquish their control of the dispersal of public records to the great advantage of their populations. One of the burdens of power is the judicious use thereof. The price to the state of public confidence is freely (not necessarily monetary) available information about the state government and its subdivisions. I urge you to reconsider your position on this matter and include a more detailed explanation of the topic in the attachment below. Sincerely John H. Goebel ++++++++++++++ Subject: Historic Cemetery Bill vetoed Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000 04:03:54 -0400 From: Nan & George Wolf <71532.734@compuserve.com> To: SOCAL-L@rootsweb.com Hi: Here is the monthly report from the CA Genealogical Alliance legislative analyst, Iris Carter Jones. Note her comments concerning the History Cemetery bill. But, there is some good news in the report also. Regards, Nan 71532.734@compuserve.com -------------Forwarded Message----------------- From: Iris Jones, INTERNET:ijones@ns.net To: Gen & His Council Sacto Valley, INTERNET:ijones@ns.net CC: [unknown], INTERNET:feefhs@feefhs.org Date: 10/12/00 7:18 PM RE: Oct Leg Report LEGISLATIVE REPORT While September 30th was the last day for the Governor to sign bills for this session, I have yet to see any action taken on Senator Sher's SB2027. It would appear that genealogists are not the only unhappy members of the public when it comes to lack of strong legislation to protect the public's right to know. On October 1 in the Sacramento Bee, columnist Marjie Lundstron discussed a new statewide survey's conclusion that in our Golden State, 'runarounds are routine and bureaucratic stonewalling is the name of the game.' The survey, taken by the California First Amendment Coalition and the Society of Professional Journalists, audited public agencies to see if they really did release public records to the public. In 77% of the cases, police, sheriffs, cities and schools turned down verbal requests for records which are classed as public records. In cases where written requests were sent, 53% were denied. The point of the column is not lost on genealogist, I get many calls from researchers asking what they can do to force the issue of obtaining public records in their counties. If Governor Davis did not sign Senator Sher's SB2027, and appears he did not, it will be the second time it has gone down to defeat. Last year he vetoed a similar bill. But, the previous Governor did not sign a similar bill by Senator Kopp, twice. Who do they work for, the public or the bureaucrats? In spite of all the hard work and hundreds of letters, calls and Emails, Governor Davis vetoed AB1779 which would have established the California Historic Cemetery Commission. His reasons have not yet been published. This is very sad news. He did sign Assemblyman Cox's AB2580 which, if enforced, should help cut down on vandalism in cemeteries and places of worship. Assemblyman Shelley's AB2799 was signed. It requires government agencies to furnish public records in any format used within their agency. As was Senator Peace's Privacy bill SB129. We will follow this as it progresses. You may recall last year, SB927 by Senator McPherson, called the California Newspaper Project, would furnish money for the University of California to identify and preserve the state's history as reflected in its newspapers, and mandate an appropriation of $1,200,000 be allocated from the year 2000 to 2004 from the General Fund to match a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Project will provide a union listing of all newspapers published in California, and the location of repositories online. Newspaper collections that have never been filmed, both public and private can be microfilmed. A complete set would be housed at the CA State Library for interlibrary loans. Additional copies would be furnished to the libraries of origin. The bill was vetoed last year, but the Governor stated that he would make money available for the project in the 2000-2001 budget. I just found out last week that he did allot the money, and the University has received the funding to proceed with the project. Well, the legislature is finished for this year, so it is unlikely that I will have reports coming out between now and early next year. This is barring anything major at the federal level or problems that might arise at the local level or in other states. If you wish to be added to my Network, send your name, name of your organization, and E-mail address, stating you wish to be added to the Legislative Network, at <ijones@ns.net>. Permission is granted to reprint Legislative Reports. Please cite your source.---Iris Carter Jones, Legislative Network Coordinator, October 7, 2000.