-----Original Message----- From: Hewick (by way of Josephine Lindsay Bass <jbass@digital.net>) <hewick@oasisonline.com> To: CSA-History-L@rootsweb.com <CSA-History-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, May 20, 2000 5:03 PM Subject: Fw: NARA Fee Increase Proposal >----- Original Message ----- >Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 11:06 PM >Subject: NARA Fee Increase Proposal > > >> Just received this from another mail list. Thought some of you may be >> interested in this information. >> >> 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 >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> >> >> >> > > > >