Friends, relatives and genealogists in general:
The President of my local genealogical society has just passed a warning
regarding California SB 1614. If passed, this bill will close all
inquiries to birth and death indices in California. The Senator
sponsoring believes that this will put a major dent in identity theft.
The Senator apparently has not considered what impact it will have on
genealogical research. It is my understanding that the CA Senate
Appropriations Committee plans to vote on the bill Monday, May 20.
California is the largest state (population wise) and can have a major
impact on other states. I live in WA and we're more closely tied to CA
than we sometimes care to admit.
If this is of concern to you, please email one (or all) of the
following:
Governor Gray Davis governor(a)governor.ca.gov
Sen Jackie Speier (author) senator.speier(a)sen.ca.gov
Sen Dede Alpert (Chair, Appropriations Comm.) senator.alpert(a)sen.ca.gov.
Thanks, Jim