Massachusetts Genealogical Council
Call to Action: 6 February 2020
Help Preserve Access to Massachusetts Vital Records
The Massachusetts Genealogical Council, of which ESOG is a member organization, has made us aware of a serious potential problem for all of us regarding access to Massachusetts vital records. We are sharing this information so that you will all be able to make your wishes known, helping to maintain availability of these records which are so crucial to genealogical research. Visit the MGC website at https://www.massgencouncil.org/call-to-action for full details and information.
What Governor Baker Got Wrong in the Budget Bill
In the proposed Budget Bill recently released by Gov. Charlie Baker, Section 42 of the Outside Bill would end Massachusetts open records policies in civil registration — policies that have been in force since 1641. Birth and marriage records would be closed for 90 years from the date of birth or date of marriage, and death records would be closed for 50 years from date of death. This is what it says in justification:
The problem with this is that it is entirely wrong.
Governments and companies have already sold our birth and residence information to data aggregators. It is widely available on the Internet.
Our own vital statistics office has already sold our data to the Social Security Administration and to online family history sites.
FBI crime statistics show that records closure periods have no relationship to whether consumer identity theft takes place. Compiled data show no correlation between identity theft and closure periods. States with totally open records (such as Massachusetts) have slightly less identity theft than states where those records are closed for 100 or more years.
These records are important to genealogists throughout the U.S.A. – if not the world – who have Massachusetts roots. They are important to anyone filling out a health pedigree for medical care, needing a health history to qualify for genetic testing for disease, or doing health research.
What Remedies Do We Have?
The proposed budget goes to committee in the House in early April, and to the Senate in May, so the time for action is now! (See the more detailed instructions on the MGC website. Use “Section 42 of the Budget Bill Outside Section” in the subject line of any communication.)
WRITE OR CALL THE GOVERNOR
To email the Governor: https://www.mass.gov/forms/email-the-governors-office
WRITE OR CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR OR STATE REPRESENTATIVE
To find your state senator and representative, go to: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator
You can also write to the Massachusetts Joint Committee Ways and Means by using this contact link: https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/J39. If your legislator is listed here as a committee member, you can directly click on his or her name. Your voice in this matter will be especially powerful.
What Everyone Is Saying About This: GENEALOGISTS DISCUSS GOV. BAKER'S OUTSIDE SECTION
Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist, on January 31, 2020, published "Open since 1641..."
Dick Eastman in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN), on 31 January 2020, published "Massachusetts Governor Seeks to Cut Access to Public Domain Records."