RPAC State Liaison
Conference Call
http://fgs.org/rpac
28 January 2014
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Jan Alpert, RPAC Chair (10 min.)
◦ RPAC Overview
◦ Responsibilities of State Liaisons
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Jan Meisels Allen, IAJGS Public Records Monitoring Committee (20
min.)
◦ Model State Vital Statistics Act
◦ How a Bill Becomes a Law—See Slides 12 Nov 2013
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Examples from 2013, State Liaisons
◦ Teri Flack—Texas [killed in committee] (10 min.)
◦ Helen Shaw—Maine [legislation through regulation] (10 min.)
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Jan Alpert, Chair (5 min.)
◦ Response to 2013 Bipartisan Budget Bill closure of SSDI for three years
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Fred Moss, Counsel for FGS (15 min.)
◦ What’s on the RPAC Blog www.fgs.org/RPAC
◦ Visit Your State and US Legislators, Sample Letters and Talking Points
◦ Q&A
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Joint Committee of FGS, NGS, and IAJGS
Participating organizations: APG, ASG, BCG, and
ICAPGen.
Other participants: Ancestry & ProQuest
State Liaisons (32 of the 50 states currently
represented)
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Jan Alpert, Chair (SC)
Josh Taylor, FGS (MA)
Fred Moss, FGS (TX)
David Rencher, FGS (UT)
Curt Witcher, FGS (IN)
Linda McCleary, FGS (AZ)
Barbara Mathews, BCG (MA)
Roger D. Joslyn, ASG (NY)
Linda Gulbrandsen, ICAPGEN
(UT)
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Jan Meisels Allen, IAJGS (CA)
Ken Ryesky, IAJGS (NY)
Jordan Jones, NGS, (NC)
Donn Devine, NGS (DE)
Darrell Jackson, NGS (MI)
Kelvin Meyers, APG (TX)
Lou Szucs, Ancestry (IL)
Bill Forsyth, ProQuest (UT)
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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
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Monthly evening conference call—First Thursday each
month
Presentations 2013 at NGS, IAJGS & FGS
◦ Some of the State Liaisons have attended
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RPAC Blog at http://www.FGS.org/rpac
RPAC email list
State Liaisons mailing list and Blog
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Members of RPAC committee
Participating organizations in RPAC
State Liaisons
Genealogy Blogs
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◦ RPAC supports and assists state 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
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Usually by state umbrella society
Looking for volunteers interested in the political
process
Who possibly worked in government affairs, state or
local government
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Monitor state legislative & regulatory activity
Timely alert to RPAC
Primary link between state genealogical community
& RPAC
Build a communications network across the state for
a consistent response
Compile state specific data on access and retention
of vital records for RPAC website.
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Elizabeth Wells (AL)
Connie Bradbury (AK)
Linda McCleary (AZ)
Jan Davenport (AR)
Peggy Rossi (CA)
David Coward (CO)
Robert Rafford (CT)
Donn Devine (DE)
John Laurent (FL)
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Elizabeth Olson (GA)
Jeanie Lowe (IL)
Curt Witcher (IN)
Cynthia Hofmeister (LA)
Helen Shaw (ME)
Barbara Mathews (MA)
Cynthia Grostick (MI)
Nancy Waller Thomas (MO)
Terry Atwood (MT)
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Robbi Ryan (NE)
Bernice Schroer (NV)
Joan Lowry (NJ)
Derek Davey (OH)
Billie Fogarty (OK)
Leslie Lawson (OR)
James Beidler (PA)
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John Andrews, Jr. (SC)
Teri Flack (TX)
Linda Gulbrandsen (UT)
John Leppman (VT)
Barbara Vines Little (VA)
Eric Stroschein (WA)
Pam Anderson (WI)
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Member, RPAC
Chairperson, IAJGS Public
Records Access Monitoring
Committee
President, Jewish
Genealogical Society
of the Conejo Valley and
Ventura County (JGSCV)
jan@iajgs.org
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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
Budget Cuts
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Enacted in 1992.
Many western states have followed Model Act
◦ Restricts access to birth records for 100 years
◦ Restricts access to marriage, divorce, & death for 50 years
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In 2009 working group began revisions
Genealogical community was not asked to testify or
submit statements on the 2011 draft.
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Working group reported revision May 2011
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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 & Humans 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
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In anticipation of the new Model Act being approved,
several states have introduced bills
◦ Passed in Oklahoma in 2011—no one noticed
◦ Bills introduced in Virginia, Washington, Oregon, and Texas—
mixed results
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RPAC, together with state and local genealogists have
been working to stop any adverse changes
Watch for introduction in your state legislature
Could be in form of regulations
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Birth record
Birth certificate
Death record
Death certificate
Divorce record
Marriage record
Marriage certificate
Still birth record
Domestic partnership record-certificate
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Vital records
Public records
State archives
Model vital record act
Vital statistics
Social Security Number
State registrar
Disclosure of records
Name of your state’s vital records regulatory
agency
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Regulations are way for state regulators to
require actions that are not in state law and
to “reinterpret” state laws
NAHPHSIS 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
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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/Sessi
ons/Sessions.aspx?h=&year=2014
As January is around the corner this is the
time to find out who are your representatives,
their contact information and make your
selves known to them
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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
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Tool Kit
For
State Liaisons
See:
http://tinyurl.com/83q6t8m
Interview on Records Access
http://tinyurl.com/7tlpcbt
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See slides on the RPAC Blog
(www.fgs/RPAC/publications) last bullet
See slides #25-30; 34-38
◦ Terminology
◦ How a bill becomes a law
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Bills change subjects from what they
originally covered when introduced.
What to do?
Actively monitor and review
all future versions of the bill
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How to read changes:
Underlined/italicized words are new
Crossed-out words are those being removed
New
language
in italics
Removed
language
crossed-out
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Each Country and State Is Different
You need to know how your country or state writes
legislation
How a bill becomes a law
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How To Find Your State’s ?
“How A Bill Becomes A Law”
Google it!
www.google.com
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Nevada
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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!
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Who do you write?
◦ Committee Chairperson
◦ Committee Members
◦ Author of the Bill (may or may not be a member of
the committee)
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If the bill has passed?
◦ Write the Governor or President who will be asked
to sign the bill
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Go to www.IAJGS.org and
click on Legislation
Then on Legislative Websites
US State Legislative websites
US Congress
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Massachusetts Legislature Page
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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
Your Country’s Governing Members
And their staffs!
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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
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Sacramento Bee-Capital Alert
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/
Politics
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YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
REACH OUT!
ARCHIVISTS
HISTORIANS
LIBRARIANS
LOCAL/STATE PRESS
OTHER GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES
IAJGS/RPAC
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS DEPENDING ON ISSUES IN BILLS
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We need you to be the
eyes and ears for early
alerts about the bills.
Your local presence
and involvement
is key to success!
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Oregon—Jan Meisels Allen
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Passed with no change in embargo periods
Limited access to the indices
Texas—Teri Flack
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Killed in Committee
Maine—Helen Shaw
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Law changed 2010.
Researcher card to provide access to genealogists
2014 pending regulations incorporate some
Model Act provisions (to make the indices private)
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Jan Alpert, Chair
RPAC
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The
Bipartisan Budget Bill passed by both houses
in December and signed by the President
27 December 2013, is now the law.
Under
Section 203, SSDI records are closed for
three years after the death of each individual
Although
we are not happy, the outcome could
have been worse. Two bills asked for permanent
closure of the Death Master File/SSDI.
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are asking the Commerce Department to certify genealogists
who need immediate access (estimated to be not more than 3,000):
 Department of Defense repatriation of remains
 Identification of unclaimed persons
 Missing and unknown heir cases involving estates, trusts, real estate, oil & gas
& mineral rights, quiet title actions, and similar activities.
 Settlement of estates
 Tracing and tracking heritable medical conditions
 Repatriation of stolen art
 Identifying Native American blood quantum to determine eligibility for tribal
benefits
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On
a parallel path RPAC is working to convince
key Congressional Committees that identity
theft of the deceased from use of the SSDI is no
longer a problem.
◦IRS flags have closed many loop holes
◦The current SSDI is no longer available for free
◦If the SSN is masked for three years, the rest of the
record should be available to all genealogists
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2011 Model Vital Statistics Act
2013 Bipartisan Budget Bill
Sample letters to write
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Counsel for FGS
Grandfather of the famous author, Evan Moss, who
published his first book at age 7.
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Genealogy = “Just a hobby”, Nosey Neighbors
Open Records Promote Identity Theft
Vital Records can be closed without costs
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We as genealogists have inadequately
educated the general public and decisionmakers about:
◦ Why we do what we do
◦ What we need to do it right
◦ How we & society benefit from this effort
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Do you know your elected representatives?
Do they know you?
Call on your state and federal legislators
◦ Office Visits during Congressional Recesses and holidays
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We also recommend joint calls between President of
State Genealogical Society and APG Chapter President
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www.hobnob.com
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Statements sent to Congressional
Committees about the need to keep the SSDI
available
Copies of letters to state legislators and/or
Governors on the 2011 Model Vital Statistics
Act
Other state actions: Maine, Georgia Archives
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Watch the RPAC Blog www.fgs.org/rpac for updates
We can help!
We need to know early and stay informed throughout
the legislative process
Contact RPAC at access@fgs.org
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Other questions?
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