Major Changes to Ohio Vital Records Access
We lost on Ohio House Bill 95.
On 5 June, the Senate approved House Bill 95 (it was approved by the
Senate Finance Committee on 3 June). With HB95, there will no longer be
uncertified copies of vital records available from the Ohio Department of Health and
the local vital statistics registrars. Also, certified copies will have an
additional $5 surcharge (making the cost of a certified copy a minimum of $15, as
the local registrars will also no longer be allowed to charge less than the
state).
House Bill 95 will go into effect 1 July 2003.
The pertinent sections are 3705.23 and 3705.24. (It is a huge page;
be
patient while it loads.)
Because this language matches the House version of the bill, there is
little hope that it would change in the committee working to reconcile the
House and Senate versions.
The Ohio Genealogical Society Board of Trustees approved a resolution
explaining the ramifications of HB95 to Ohio genealogists. Copies of this
resolution was hand-delivered to every Ohio Senator's office. Representatives of
the Board met with representatives of the Ohio Department of Health. Included in
the resolution and in the discussions were good, reasonable, logical
explanations as to why eliminating uncertified copies will do nothing to prevent
identity theft. We gave them possible alternatives so that uncertified copies would
no longer be a financial hardship on the agencies involved. Even with these
actions, as well as the countless phone calls, letters, and e-mails to the Ohio
Senate from genealogists and organizations from across the state and the
nation, the bill went through unchanged.
It is likely (even probable) that the next step will be to restrict
access -- either with a time restriction and/or an access restriction (only
qualified parties can get a copy of the record). People have reported that local
vital statistics registrars are stating that they are not allowed to issue
copies except to the person or the next of kin. HB 95 made no such provisions.
However, these instances of restrictions need to be noted so that those agencies
can be properly informed on what the current requirements are.
It is a very sad time in Ohio genealogy. Unfortunately, this may be
only the tip of the iceberg.
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