Access to Vital Records Is Under Attack! How Can You Help?

1. Access to Vital Records Is Under Attack! How Can You Help? 8 May 2014 Richmond, VA Greater Richmond Convention Center Room B15B

2. Agenda • Jan Alpert, RPAC Chair • About RPAC • Three Year Restriction to SSDI • Certification of Forensic Genealogists • Jan Meisels Allen, Chairperson, IAJGS Pubic Records Access Monitoring Committee • 2011 Revision Model Vital Statistics Act • 2014 Examples of State Vital Records Legislation • Fred Moss, Counsel for FGS • Continuing Efforts with the Department of Commerce • Know Your Legislators • Congressional Recess: Make Your Voice Heard • Q & A

3. About RPAC • Joint Committee of FGS, NGS, and IAJGS • Participating organizations: APG, ASG, BCG, and ICAPGen. • Other participants: Ancestry & ProQuest • State Liaisons (31 of the 50 states currently represented)

4. Records Preservation & Access Committee Participants • Jan Alpert, Chair (SC) • Josh Taylor, FGS (CA) • Fred Moss, FGS (TX) • David Rencher, FGS (UT) • Curt Witcher, FGS (IN) • Linda McCleary, FGS (AZ) • Joy Reisinger, FGS (WI) • Barbara Mathews, BCG (MA) • Roger D. Joslyn, ASG (NY) • Linda Gulbrandsen, ICAPGEN (UT) • Jan Meisels Allen, IAJGS (CA) • Ken Ryesky, IAJGS (NY) • Jordan Jones, NGS, (NC) • Donn Devine, NGS (DE) • Darrell Jackson, NGS (MO) • Kelvin Meyers, APG (TX) • Alvie Davidson, APG (FL) • Lou Szucs, Ancestry (IL) • Bill Forsyth, ProQuest (MI)

5. RPAC Mission • Advocate open access to vital records • Support strong preservation policies & practices • Advise community about federal, state, and sometimes local regulations and legislation • Coordinate genealogical community response

6. How RPAC Works • Meetings—FGS & NGS Conferences • Monthly evening conference call—First Thursday each month • Presentations 2013 at NGS, IAJGS & FGS • RPAC Blog at http://www.FGS.org/rpac • RPAC email list • State Liaisons conference calls and mailing list

7. RPAC Bloghttp://www.fgs.org/rpac/

8. RPAC Blog http://www.fgs.org/rpac/publications Copies available RPAC Booth # 105

9. RPAC Blog http://www.fgs.org/rpac/publications

10. How We Hear About Threats Members of RPAC committee Participating organizations in RPAC State Liaisons Genealogy Blogs

11. How RPAC Responds to Threats RPAC supports and assists local genealogy groups and state liaisons Monitors bills as the legislation progresses Communicates threats and bill status Prepares written statements for key committee hearings Posts sample letters to legislators Talking Points for visits with your legislators

12. State Liaisons—How Selected • Normally by state umbrella society • Looking for volunteers interested in the political process • Who possibly worked in government affairs, state, or local government • If interested see me after this presentation

13. State Liaison Roster • Elizabeth Olson (GA) • Jeanie Lowe (IL) • Curt Witcher (IN) • Cynthia Hofmeister (LA) • Barbara Mathews (MA) • Helen Shaw (ME) • Cynthia Grostick (MI) • Nancy Waller Thomas (MO) • Elizabeth Wells (AL) • Connie Bradbury (AK) • Linda McCleary (AZ) • Jan Davenport (AR) • Peggy Rossi (CA) • David Coward (CO) • Robert Rafford (CT) • Donn Devine (DE) • Frank Laurent (FL)

14. Liaisons Needed • Hawaii • Idaho • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Maryland • Minnesota • Mississippi • Montana • Nebraska • New Hampshire • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Rhode Island • South Dakota • West Virginia • Wyoming

15. Current Threats to Vital Records Access • Closure of the SSDI record for three years from person’s death. • Model State Vital Statistics Act

16. 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act • Passed both houses in December with no amendments • Signed by the President 26 December 2013 • Death Master File/SSDI closed for 3 years beginning 26 March 2014 • Must be certified by the Department of Commerce to access the DMF/SSDI during the three year embargo period

17. 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act • Hearing on 4 March 2014. • Fred Moss, counsel for FGS testified • 111 participated in person or via webcast • Statements to Commerce 18 March 2014 • RPAC, IAJGS, FamilySearch, CAFG, and a handful of genealogists filed statements. • Statements also filed by insurance companies, industry associations, banks or credit services, pensions funds, and various service providers

18. 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act • Statements requested certification for forensic genealogists: • Locating heirs for Dept. of Defense for repatriation of war remains • Identification of unclaimed persons for coroners • Locating missing heirs for probate and others • Tracing and tracking heritable medical conditions • Repatriation of stolen art and artifacts • Determining eligibility for tribal benefits

19. Certification of Genealogists • Two forensic genealogists certified in April • Many have not applied because: • Cost of certification $200 • Cost to access the data $995 per year minimum • Limited data fields • Audit and security requirements • $1,000 fine if SSDI information disclosed to anyone uncertified

20. Certification of Genealogists • Limited Data Fields • First name, last name, date of birth, date of death, Social Security Number • Missing are: • middle initial or middle name • state of issue and • where last payment was sent • Important for genealogists to differentiate individuals with the same name

21. Certification of Genealogists • More Important— these fields may be missing from all future Social Security Admin. Data, even the recent data before the 3 year embargo • Fred Moss will provide the latest updates later in this presentation

22. Jan Meisels Allen Member, RPAC Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee President, Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) jan@iajgs.org

23. Genealogists without records can’t do genealogy! We are facing crises worldwide on access to vital records Due to misunderstanding by those in power about Identity Theft

24. 2011 RevisionModel State Vital Statistics Act • Working group reported revision May 2011 • Restricts access to birth records for 125 years • Restricts access to marriage or divorce records for 100 years • Restricts access to death records for 75 years • Restricts access to indices until the embargo dates • Requires confidentiality restrictions on indices as well as records • April 2012 Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) put Model Act “on hold” • January 2013 HHS promulgates final regulation on privacy and permits medical information on deceased to be released after 50 years less than revision act of 75 years

25. Remember to Watch For Regulations Too • Regulations are a way for state regulators to require actions that are not in state law and to “reinterpret” state laws • NAPHSIS 2013 conference said since they did not do well in legislatures in 2014 they will start enacting Model Vital Records Act by regulation. • We are already seeing movement on privacy language for Maine Vital Records proposed regulations following Model Act

26. How can you help?

27. Things to Do Now • Find out when your state’s legislature begins and ends. Many start in January- but the end dates vary- some go year ‘round • See: http://www.statescape.com/Resources/Sessions/Sessions.aspx?h=&year=2014 • Identify your representatives, their contact information, and make your selves known to them

28. What You and Your Society Can Do • Invite your local legislators to a Society meeting • Send all your legislators-federal, state, local your blog/newsletter—remember you and your society members are their constituents • Stop into their local offices and get to know them and their staffs

29. Key Words to Look For In New Legislation • Birth record • Birth certificate • Death record • Death certificate • Divorce record • Marriage record • Marriage certificate • Still birth record • Domestic partnership record-certificate

30. Key Words Continued • Vital records • Public records • State archives • Model State Vital Statistics Act • Vital statistics • Social Security Number • State registrar • Disclosure of records • Name of your state’s vital records regulatory agency

31. Tool Kit For State Liaisons See: http://tinyurl.com/83q6t8m Interview on Records Access http://tinyurl.com/7tlpcbt

32. State Liaison Meeting 20 Nov. 2013 • See slides on the RPAC Blog http://www.fgs.org/rpac/publicationscurrently third from last bullet • See slides #25-30; 34-38 • Terminology • How a bill becomes a law

33. Each Country and State Is Different You need to know how your country or state writes legislation How a bill becomes a law

34. How To Find Your State’s ? “How A Bill Becomes A Law” Google it! www.google.com

35. Virginia

36. Every step on the “How A Bill Becomes A Law” is an opportunity to shape the outcome…from the day it is introduced, the hearings, going to the floor of the legislature, to the desk. Take the necessary steps at each opportunity!

37. Write a Letter to the Committee(s)Which Will Hear the Bill • Who do you write? • Committee Chairperson • Committee Members • Author of the Bill (may or may not be a member of the committee) • If the bill has passed? • Write the Governor or President who will be asked to sign the bill

38. How To Find Out Where To Write Go to www.IAJGS.org and click on Legislation Then on Legislative Websites US State Legislative websites US Congress

42. North Carolina Legislature Page

43. Get To Know Your Local Representatives All politics are local! Each Liaison and your society board member and others in your society should get to know: Your local State Representative Your local State Senator Your Federal Congressperson Your US Senators And their staffs!

44. Keep Informed You need to know what is going on • Read online the capitol’s newspaper and key political columnist • Keep in touch with other genealogy societies to know what they are doing • Post updates on your society website/blog/newsletter

45. Examples of Key Political Columns • Sacramento Bee-Capital Alert http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/ Politics

46. Recent Vital Records Legislation Texas (2013) • Letter writing campaign by Texas genealogists made a difference • Died in committee Oregon • Passed (2013) with no change in embargo periods • Limited access to the indices Maine • Law changed 2010. • Researcher card to provide access to genealogists • 2014 pending regulations incorporate some Model Act provisions (to make the indices private) and access to hands on records by genealogists

47. Recent Vital Records Legislation Cont’d • Oklahoma • Legislation enacting Model Records Act embargos for Birth (125 years) and Death records (75 years) signed by Governor 1 May 2014. • Pending Legislation merging OK Historical Society with Dept of Tourism, History and Cultural Affairs • California • Proposition 42 on access to public records on June primary ballot

48. How is RPAC Responding? • Genealogists Declaration of Rights • Idea from Robert Rafford, CT State Liaison • Positive statement for Open Records • A chance for you to join in and support • RPAC Booth #105, Sign the Declaration • Will be used for state and federal issues • Genealogists need access to Public Records

49. Genealogists Declaration of Rights

50. Fred Moss, JD, LL.M. • Counsel for FGS • RPAC Blogger • Grandfather of famous author, Evan Moss, who published his first book at age 7.