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Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
 
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The following article on the IAJGS Public Records Access MonitoringCommittee (PRAMC) explains the origins of the committee, majorconcerns regarding access, upcoming lobbying activities and someof the things the committee did during the past year.
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This is a topic that should be of concern to all genealogists.
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We hope you will help us spread the word.
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We invite IAJGS member organizations to cut and past all or part ofthis article for inclusion in your upcoming newsletters.
IAJGS Board of Directors-September 2005
The IAJGS Public Records AccessMonitoring Committee
(PRAMC)
By Jan Meisels Allen, IAJGS Board Member
Several years ago the IAJGS Board ofDirectors created the Public Records AccessMonitoring Committee (PRAMC). Its charterstates the committee is to
"
monitor(worldwide), legislative and regulatoryactivities, in both governmental and non-governmental repositories which havegenealogical value, where access to vitalrecords were being denied or hampered." Inappropriate cases, the IAJGS would takeaction in the form of expressing our concernsin an attempt to change the accessimpediment. The Committee currentlyincludes:Jan Meisels Allen, JGS Conejo Valley andVentura County-
Chairperson
Florence Elman, JGS Calgary, AlbertaTeven Laxer, JGS SacramentoJay Sage, JGS BostonPaul Silverstone, JGS NY, Inc.Joel Spector, JGS Greater PhiladelphiaAnne Feder Lee,
ex officio
 
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Critical Issue: Genealogists Facing Loss ofAccess to All US Birth Records
Currently, the issue of most concern facingaccess to records for genealogists is how aprovision in the recently enacted U.S.Intelligence Reform Act (P.L. 108-458) will beimplemented. This provision requires minimumstandards for use of birth certificates byFederal agencies for official purposes. Birthrecords are obtained from the state in whichthe birth occurred, therefore, the provision willaffect all states issuing birth certificates. Ourconcern is that the minimum standards to bedeveloped by the Secretary of Health andHuman Services (HHS) may be overbroad andthereby inhibit access to birth records bylegitimate genealogists.IAJGS, working with the genealogicalcommunity, tried to have the provisionamended as the bill was moving through theUS Congress.However, the proponents'concern with preventing terrorism by making itdifficult for terrorists to obtain driver’s licenses,passports, and other identification documentsby using fraudulent birth certificates, wasoverriding, and our amendatory language wasnot adopted.Secretary of HHS Leavitt is expected torelease proposed regulations soon. Theregulations will define the minimum standards,and how all states are to adopt them. Ourconcern is that the minimum standards willprevent an individual, who is not the individualnamed in the birth certificate, from obtaining acopy of a birth record.When the proposed regulations are released,IAJGS will provide member organizations witha sample letter for use in writing to theSecretary. We hope many IAJGS memberorganizations and their members will thenwrite to the Secretary expressing genealogicalconcerns regarding the proposed regulations. The message in our sample letter will focus onACCESS to vital records, explaining thatgenealogists only need non-certified orinformational copies of the records, since wedo not require the records for identificationpurposes. (Certified copies of birth records areaccepted by governmental entities as officialdocuments for identification.)Final regulations will require each state toamend its existing laws and regulationspertaining to access to birth records-if theirbirth records are to be accepted forgovernmental identification purposes. Thus,your assistance will also be needed in makingcertain the state legislators also understandthat genealogists only require non-certifiedcopies.In preparation for this, IAJGS has posted to itswebsite a list of each state's legislativewebsites (www. IAJGS.org) click on“resources” then click on “legislationwebsites”). If you don't know your localrepresentative, this is a perfect time to get toknow them, as you will need to contact themwhen the issue arises. You can find out whoyour federal and state representatives are bylooking at the legislation websites.
Federation of GenealogicalSocieties/National Genealogical SocietyRecords Preservation Committee
To maximize our effectiveness, whilepreserving our scarce resources on accessissues, the IAJGS is represented on theFGS/NGS Records Preservation Committee,by the PRAMC committee chairperson. TheCommittee's role is to "ensure proper accessto historical records of genealogical value, onmeans to affect legislation, and on supportingstrong records preservation policies andpractices". This committee represents theleadership organizations in the genealogicalcommunity in North America. In addition toworking on the issue of access to birth recordsmentioned above, other issues regardingimpediments to access continue to beaddressed.
PRAMC Activities in 2004-2005
During 2004-2005 PRAMC reviewed a numberof access issues and the major ones are listedhere:
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