Possible NJ State Law

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brujaojos
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Possible NJ State Law

Post by brujaojos »

My Dear Friends,

We were given this information at the Family History Center. It is in regards to the fact that the State of New Jersey is trying to pass Assembly Bill 1390 which would prohibit us (I mean anyone....) to gain access to Vital Records.

Here is the link in regard to this Bill.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/legislation.html

Here is a link to use if you are willing to write to help stop this Bill.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/NJA1390Individual.htm


However, most parties including other State Senators and Assembly People are willing to agree to the amendments listed below. This is quoted from the website and the letter......

"I respectfully suggest two important amendments to accommodate the legitimate interests of family researchers and historians that have been proposed by the Genealogical Society of New Jersey. The first, a proposed addition to subsection 3(b) – subsection (5), is as follows:"

"(5) informational or non-certified copies of vital records to anyone after 80 years have elapsed in the case of birth records and 50 years have elapsed in the case of marriage records and 40 years in the case of death records......."


There are already a few other States that are starting to limit the access to Vital Records. I was told that Texas is one of them. And yet, other States such as New York and Illinois are putting Indexes online to help the people and their staff with keeping up with the Genealogy requests.

Please help keep vital records accessible in all States. If not, you will not be able to conduct your genealogy in the near future.

Thanks,
Trish
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by nuccia »

Trish,

Thanks for sharing this valuable information with us. 8O I am going to put my 2 cents regarding this! :twisted: I'm sure others will join us in helping to stop this bill.

Keep us posted if there's anything else we can do to help.

Nuccia
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by wldspirit »

I have heard news of this before.......something to do with our "homeland security"..........

and while Illinois does have a decent database, I am especially impressed with the West Virginia database.......not only is it indexed by name, but you have access to the actual images of documents......wish all the states could be so good!!!!

http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/

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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by PepinoMattioli »

im not really following this...why would they want to ban peopel from gettign this stuff???
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by wldspirit »

Identity theft and security.........to prevent someone from assuming another identity for illegal purposes.......

but this is to much, most states already have time limits in place with regard to accessing vital records, not to mention, most applications for marriage, births and deaths are published in the newspapers, making them public knowledge. For example, here is a listing for our local newspaper to be found in the "matters of record"............

Matters of Record
Bankruptcies
Births
Building Permits
Divorces
DUI Dispositions
Felony Dispositions
Marriages

If NJ gets by with this, how long before other states follow.............
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by ally »

Hi All.

One way or another if someone wants information, they will find it. Look at the internet sites/directories, for $10.00, people can get your name telephone number address and any criminal record, satelitte photo of your home etc, death, birth etc. This is just another example of how someones life can be taken away. But these websites are legal thru some insane loophole in the law. I mean I have an unpublished number, but someone can pay to get, why do I have one then???

Also in the local papers, which information is easy to come by is name changes. People can look up under headings as deaths, marriage,births and people having to notify anyone that he/she is changing their name.
Use a new name you have to giveyour old name and the new one you are changing to.It will list new name, your town etc. Only thing missing is their ss#.


There have been cases in my town, where mail is being taken out of peoples mailboxes at curbside. Think about it, you put your checks, bills etc. All having accts on them, and someone who is devious enough can find out anything. I no longer put my mail at curbside, I go to the post office.

Yet others who go thru dumpsites and trash to find papers. There are a lot of strange people in this world today & I honestly don't think this is going to help our "homeland security".

I thank you for posting this, now I must get to archives if I need these extras soon, who knows what will happen. Keep us posted.

Ally
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by brujaojos »

Hi Everyone,

Well, let's just say that for some reason New Jersey always like to start a little trouble.lol

They actually have a 10 point system in order to renew a driver's license. This means you needed various documents such as a Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, and other documents that would add up to 10 points before they would renew your license. This system was created after 9/11 so that people could not forge a driver's license.

If New Jersey was able to pass this, then they could pass the one to stop access to vital records. And we don't want other States to follow suit.

To Ally, You're right about how people can get information, that's why everyone should protect themselves. However, when it comes to genealogy, I would love to all my research finished before someone tells me that I can't do it any more.

Have a great day!
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by ally »

Trish, :D
You don't even know what trouble it is to get a license in Jersey.
Ex. My dad, 75, been driving forever, no tickets, accidents, went to renew his license. Well, did they give him a hard time. Apparently our family went by a certain name his whole life, siblings as well.

Every major paper has this name on it. His birth record reports another.
Even though he bought all legal, I mean legal papers attesting this is his name, he could not renew his license.

After 7 trips back home to get "other papers with his name on it", to no avail.Until he gave a plaque given to him from the war. The gov't issued to all discharged personnel. Now answer me this, how can they accept this plaque? :?

Mind you anyone can have one made anyway,shape or form, with any information on it - right. But they won't take a ss card, marriage lisc,
insurance card medicare info, mortgage etc.

Now at the age of 75 he has to change his name costing him $200, plus newspaper announcements for 1 month at another $40.. a week to use a name he used his whole life. Go figure!

I called them to state this and all they said was then change his name on current papers to list birth name, only $25. Like our whole family would like to change all our papers to match our fathers.

So I am running to the archives to wrap up any papers I may need. Who knows how this is going to turn out!


To any NJ woman, get your marriage license fro, the town in which you married before you have to renew, they will not accept any church copy, even IF your name is on it.

If you gals have a passport, you're in luck also. This is the only proof they will accept with your married name on it. This is how I got mine. Thank god for passports. :lol:

Have a good one guys!
Ally
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by brujaojos »

Hi Ally,

I feel your pain!!!! My Aunt had to go through what your father went through because her name was Caterina on her Birth papers and Catherine on everything else. My Aunt, not to go through all that expense, had her birth certificate from Philly ammended to state Catherine. I was running all over for her to get her documents here in Philly for she didn't even have a copy of her Marriage License.

By the way, where in NJ are you? I go to the Archives at least once a month for research. I have to go soon.

Have a good one.
Trish
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by DonnaPellegrin »

It's worse than you might think. At the risk of bringing ugly politics onto our lovely forum, here is an article that was sent to me by my genealogy society:

The Life and Death of Public Records
By Terry Allen, In These Times
Posted on February 21, 2006, Printed on April 4, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/32242/
Sometimes it's the small abuses scurrying below radar that reveal how profoundly the Bush administration has changed America in the name of national security. Buried within the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 is a regulation that bars most public access to birth and death certificates for 70 to 100 years. In much of the country, these records have long been invaluable tools for activists, lawyers and reporters to uncover patterns of illness and pollution that officials miss or ignore.

In These Times has obtained a draft of the proposed regulations now causing widespread concern among state officials. It reveals plans to create a vast database of vital records to be centralized in Washington and details measures that states must implement -- and pay millions for -- before next year's scheduled implementation.

The draft lays out how some 60,000 already strapped town and county offices must keep the birth and death records under lock and key and report all document requests to Washington. Individuals who show up in person will still be able to obtain their own birth certificates and, in some cases, the birth and death records of an immediate relative, and "legitimate" research institutions may be able to access files. But reporters and activists won't be allowed to fish through records, many family members looking for genetic clues will be out of luck, and people wanting to trace adoptions will dead-end. If you are homeless and need your own birth certificate, forget it: no address, no service.

Consider the public health implications. A few years back, a doctor in a tiny Vermont town noticed that two patients who lived on the same hill had ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Hearing rumors of more cases of the relatively rare and always fatal disease, the doctor notified the health department. Citing lack of resources, it declined to investigate. The doc then told a reporter, who searched the death certificates filed in the town office only to find that ALS had already killed five of the town's 1,300 residents. It was statistically possible, but unlikely, that this 10-times-higher-than-normal incidence was simply chance. Since no one knows what causes ALS, clusters like this one, once revealed, help epidemiologists assess risk factors, warn doctors to watch for symptoms,and alert neighbors and activists.

Activists in Colorado already know what it is like when states bar access to vital records. For years, they fought the Cotter Corp., claiming that its uranium mining operations were killing residents and workers. Unwilling to rely on the health department, which they claimed had a "cozy" relationship with the polluters, the activists tried to access death records, only to be told that it was illegal in this closed-records state. An editorial in Colorado's Longmont Daily Times-Call lamented, "If there's a situation that makes the case for why death certificates should be available to the public, it is th[is] Superfund area."

Some of state officials around the country are questioning whether the new regulations themselves illegally tread on states' rights. But the feds have been coy. Richard McCoy, public health statistic chief in Vermont, one of the nation's 14 open-records states, says, "No state is mandated to meet the regs. However, if they don't, then residents of that state will not be able to access any federal services, including social security and passports. States have no choice."

But while the public loses access to records, the federal government gains a gargantuan national database easily cross-referenced in the name of national security. The feds' claim that increased security will deter identity theft and terrorism is facile. **SPAM** corporate data gathering is the major nexis of identity theft. As for terrorism, all the 9/11 perpetrators had valid identification.

Meanwhile, the quiet clampdown on vital records is part of a growing consolidation of information at the federal level. "That information will dovetail with the Real ID Act of 2005," says Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Real ID cards are the other shoe that is scheduled to drop in three years." That act, signed into law last May, establishes national standards for state-issued driver's licenses and ID cards, and centralizes the information into a database.

Aside from public health and privacy concerns, closing vital records incurs a steep intangible cost: It undermines community in places where that healthy ethos still survives. In small town America, the local clerk's office is a sociable place where government wears the face of your neighbor. Each year, Vermont's 246 towns distribute their vital statistics to all residents. "It's the first place everybody goes in the Town Report," says state archivist Gregory Sanford. "Who was born, who died, who got married, who had a baby and wasn't married."

This may not be the most dramatic danger to democracy, but it is one of the Bush administration's many quiet, incremental assaults on the health of America's body politic. And it may end up listed on the death certificate for open society.


© 2006 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/32242/
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by DonnaPellegrin »

If you are concerned, here is a site that lists e-mail addresses for your senators in D. C.:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_i ... rs_cfm.cfm

Here is a site with e-mail addresses of the congressmen:
www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html - 6k - Feb 20, 2006 -

Never under estimate the power of a letter.
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by ally »

Donna thanks for that informative information. What is life coming to these days I will never know.

As for Trish, I live in Monmouth County. About a 45 min ride to Trenton.
Only problem is my car. It seems one day it will start the next it won't.
They hooked it up to all machines, nothing seems to be wrong. Who knows. So I drive when it will let me. Ha-Ha!

I hate going to the archives by myself. I try to go with a friend, but my friends work, I don't. Small kids in school. Where are you that you come here. Must be close. Let me know by email when you go, maybe we can get together?!?!

Well gotta run, have last minute details for my sons immigration day tomorrow. Have to bake some cookies and find a small case to put his belongings in. Pack it and iron his shirt. :D
Take care all!
Ally
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by wldspirit »

Donna,
Thank you so much for the article, WE MUST ALL WRITE LETTERS PROTESTING THIS MEASURE........otherwise, genealogy as we know it will come to a rude stop!!!!!!!!



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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by Nunsiata »

Trish, thank you for the information. And Donna - that article is truly horrifying. In our corrupt state of New Jersey this kind of thing happens all the time. Our private information is available via the internet for all to see -anyone with a credit card can access our whole life and credit history! These same government officials operating under the guise of protecting the people have meanwhile given the insurance companies the right to check our credit to establish rates! And that's just one that comes to mind - the invasion of our privacy happens on a daily basis. Choosing to display information to the highest bidder or to the company with the most clout in Washington (or Trenton) is morally reprehensible. I am outraged by this proposed bill and the smarminess it covers up.
The Motor Vehicle debacle was bad enough. When I went to renew my license this past October I was sent home twice. As Ally explained, even though the DMV has had every detail of our driving record and past renewals, we are suddenly (and rudely) demanded to produce proof of our identity - not with one or two pieces of government-issued identification, but three or four. The next day a guy that works with me went to Newark and purchased a driver's license - photo, holograms and all - for $400.00 and in less time. Can someone explain this to me?
I realize what a can of worms was opened by this topic but it feels good to vent! I know that one voice can't make a difference, but I will be adding mine to the fight. Thank you all.
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Re: Possible NJ State Law

Post by wldspirit »

I think we need to get this out to every genealogy website, society and the like............we have got to make sure we are all heard loud and clear!!!

wldspirit
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