>Subject: [TN-all] FYI: NARA Reproduction Fee Schedule (Proposed) > >The NARA proposal to revamp the system and fees for providing copies of >Military Service Records, Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Files, and >Pension Application Files has been published in the 25 April 2000 issue >of the Federal Register. Public comment is invited and should be >directed to > >NARA Regulation Comment Desk >8601 Adelphi Road >College Park, MD 20740-6001 >Fax: 301 713-7270 > >The comment period closes on 26 June 2000. NARA prefers that you use >either the postal address or fax number to submit our comments rather >than e-mail. >A complete copy of the Federal Register notice is available from the >NARA Web site at http://www.nara.gov/nara/fees-pro.html. > >The proposed Reproduction Fee Schedule covers a number of items, but the >Military Service Records, and the Pension and Bounty-Land Warrants are >of the greatest concern to genealogists. NARA proposes three major >changes: > >1. The NATF Form 80 would be discontinued, to be replaced by two new >forms: NATF Form 85 to request both Bounty-Land Warrant application >files and Pension files (more than 75 years old), and NATF From 86 to >request Military Service Records (more than 75 years old). > >2. For all three types of files, NARA would no longer send a selection >of pages, but would send the complete file. This would eliminate the >two-step process currently used and should be beneficial to most >genealogists. > >3. The fees for all three types of files would be raised. For Military >Service Records the new fee would be $17.00, regardless of the number of >pages included in the file. For Bounty-land Warrants the fee would be >$17.25, again without regard to the number of pages. For Pension Files >the fee would be $40.00, regardless of the number of pages. > >Finally, the proposal would go into effect on 1 September 2000, if >approved. > >Many genealogists may consider the proposed fees to be excessive. NARA >specifically invites comment on the proposed fee schedule. The FGS/NGS >Records Preservation and Access Committee urges everyone who wants to >comment to carefully read the full proposal before submitting comments. >The proposed fees are intended to cover the actual cost of locating, >copying and mailing the records, plus 10% as authorized by law, and are >based on the average size of the files. NARA states that the average for >Military Service Records and Bounty-land Applications is somewhere under >20 pages, while the average for full Pension Files is 105 pages. > >The FGS/NGS Records Preservation and Access Committee will be looking at >the NARA proposal carefully, and will submit comments as appropriate. >Individuals who would like to provide input to the Committee's >evaluation are welcome to do so but are also encouraged to comment >direct to NARA at the address given above. Comments for Committee >consideration should be e-mailed to fgs-access@fgs.org, or mailed to >Federation of Genealogical Societies, Attention: RPAC, PO Box 200940, >Austin, TX 78720-0940. In order for the Records Preservation and Access >Committee to adequately evaluate such input it must be received by 26 >May 2000. The deadline for comment to NARA, however, is still 26 June >2000. > >Posting of this message to other mail lists is encouraged. A copy of >this message will also be available on the Records Preservation and >Access page of the FGS Web site <http://www.fgs.org/fgs-recordsnews.htm> >and on the NGS Web site <http://www.ngsgenealogy.org>