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Under current California Election Code Section 2194 voter registration records are open to the public.   SB 112 (Monning-D- Santa Cruz/Monterey) as originally introduced would have established a 72-year waiting period for the public, and as amended places a 100-year waiting period for the public.  Voter registration cards are a valuable genealogical tool helping locate persons at a specific time—in between censuses that are available to the public– and provides such information as birth dates, signatures, address, country of origin, personal characteristics ( height, color of hair and eyes) and in 1994 California added the additional information: social security and driver’s license numbers.  The bill grants access  to candidates for office and to political campaigns, as well as to researchers and journalists, but not the general public. In the author’s fact sheet it states:” These access provisions do not include one of the most common reasons people want to access the historic roles, which is to learn about their genealogy or family history.” The fact sheet is not available on-line.

To read the bill go to: http://tinyurl.com/bchcko7

Original url:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0101-0150/sb_112_bill_20130307_amended_sen_v98.pdf

Another California code section– Public Records Act, section 6254.4, states that voter registration records are confidential.  It appears as if there are conflicts between the two sections

The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH)  at the request of several Oklahoma Legislators are asking for feedback on a specific issue: If you have been denied a death certificate from the Oklahoma State Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics since 1 November 2011, please send that information to news@okgensoc.org.

Recently,  access to death records have been restricted and  the Oklahoma Genealogical Society was asked by OSDH through the authors of the bill to document how many people have actually been denied a death certificate since the enactment of a law restricting access went into effect.

Background:

In November 2011 an omnibus bill by the Oklahoma Department of Health included a  provision for death records that  only the person of record may request the record-another words only the deceased may request their own death record. Until February 2013  when a professional genealogist requested  a client’s family death record did it become known that as of this February—15 months after the omnibus bill was passed– the Department of Health was preventing such access.  The Oklahoma Genealogical Society is working to have this provision changed which is the genesis of the bill authors and OSDH request.

If you have been denied access to a death records since November 1, 2011 please share that information with the Oklahoma Genealogical Society at news@okgensoc.org –do not send it to me.

One of the issues that is being discussed by Congress and others regarding identity theft and Social Security Numbers regards children-especially deceased children and fraudulent tax returns claiming them by other than their parents, i.e. misuse of Social Security Numbers..  The Social Security Administration (SSA)  is considering changing their existing policy about assigning Social Security numbers to children  age 13 and under. The new assignment would only occur under certain circumstances:

Proof that the child’s Social Security number was stolen en route from the SSA to the parent’s home; the child’s Social Security number was incorrectly disclosed in the Death Master File; a third party has misused the child’s SSN.

The SSA is looking for comments on these specific questions:

1.Is age 13 the appropriate cut off for application of the revised policy?

2. Are the circumstances that we propose for assigning a new SSN to children age 13 and under appropriate?

3. Are there other circumstances that would warrant assigning a new SSN to children age 13 and under

To read the proposed notice go to: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-02-11/pdf/2013-03043.pdf

They are looking for input from the public and comments must be received by April 12, 2013.

Submitting comments by the eRulemaking portal are included in the url above.

You can fax your comments to: (410) 966– 2830.

Mail any comments to:

Office of Regulations and Reports

Clearance, Social Security

Administration, 107 Altmeyer Building,

6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore,

Maryland 21235–6401

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a US government agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, develops the Model State Vital Statistics Act . The National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems [NAPHSIS] is the professional association of state vital records and public health statistics offices in the United States. The CDC proposed a revision to the current Model State Vital Statistics Act entitled : 2011 Revision of the Model State Vital Statistics Act and Regulations. The last revision of the model act was in 1992. The current Model Act may be read at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/model_law_revision.htm

The proposed 2011 Revision of the Model Act was developed by a working group consisting of seven state/local vital statistics executives and one former chief counsel of a local health department. They sought input from all State vital statistics officials  The genealogical community was not consulted. A draft was presented to the states in late 2010 and the revised version was distributed to the jurisdictions and statistics executives.  No public comment or hearing has been held or scheduled.  It is pending Department of Health and Human Services approval, it is not currently known if they will hold a public comment period or hearing.

The NAPHSIS home page is: http://www.naphsis.org/Pages/home.aspx

In several jurisdictions we have seen the attempt by states to try to impose the new and longer wait periods for vital records. The proposed 2011 Model Act states: it is unlawful for the state registrar to permit access to or disclosure of personally identifiable information in vital records or issue a copy of the record unless the person is authorized (and there is no provision for genealogists). The proposed new Model Act has extended the length of time to obtain records:125 years have elapsed after the date of  live birth, or 75 years have elapsed after the date of death or fetal death, or 100 years after the date of marriage, or (divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment).

To read the proposed 2011 model act go to: http://www.naphsis.org/Documents/Final%20MODEL%20LAW%20September%207%202011.pdf

History:

The vital statistics of the United States are collected and published through a decentralized, cooperative system. Responsibility for the registration of births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, divorces and annulments and the reporting of induced terminations of pregnancy is vested in the 57 vital registration jurisdictions ( 50 states, DC, 5 territories, Puerto Rico and New York City). The first Model Law was developed in 1907 by the Bureau of the Census. Since 1992 NAPHIS believes a number of changes have occurred—ranging from increased security on vital records in order to prevent identity theft for criminal intent or terrorism. In addition, the widespread adoption by states of electronic birth and death registration systems has resulted in improved timeliness and data quality of vital records.

The Model State Vital Statistics Act and Regulations (Model Law) was developed to serve as a model for states in preparing their own laws and regulations.  The Model Law was designed to improve the quality and uniformity of state data by establishing standard reporting requirements, definitions, and procedures for registering vital events.

To read more on the resolution for the proposed 2011 version of the Model Act go to: http://tinyurl.com/cxrgghf

Original url:

http://w.fgs.org/rpac/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/naphsis-resolution-2011-1.pdf