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Archiver > OHLICKIN > 2003-06 > 1056480659
From: "Nola" <>
Subject: [OHLICKIN] Fw: [OHMUSKIN] email Governor Taft to stop 1700% price increase for birth & death certificates
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 14:50:59 -0400
I have forwared this message to the Ohlickn list and others because of
it's importance and your quick action in this matter. Even if you don't
live in Ohio the cost will still affect you. So please help, Nola
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mick Burdge" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 10:27 AM
Subject: [OHMUSKIN] email Governor Taft to stop 1700% price increase for
birth & death certificates
> IMPORTANT info for genealogists -- cost of Ohio birth & death certificates
may go from $1 to $17. Your immediate action is necessary if we are to have
any chance fo stopping this increase. If Governor Taft signs the bill, then
you should immeidately contact your state senators and representatives and
ask that they sponsor legislation to roll back the price increase and
reinstate uncertified copies at reduced cost.
>
> I recently learned that the Ohio legislature has proposed a budget for
2002-2003 that will eliminate uncertified copies of birth and death records.
If Governor Taft signs the bill as presented, you won't be able to get
uncertified copies of those any more from the state or county depts of
health after July 1 -- and your cost will go from $1 per uncertified copy to
$17 for each certified copy -- a 1700% increase that will make the cost of
genealogy research prohibitive, especially for retirees.
>
> Governor Taft has line item veto power which would enable him to veto the
offending provisions of the bill -- but we must act NOW if we are to have
any chance of influencing him to exercise his line item veto power. A
campaign of email and phone calls should do it (letters will take to long,
since Gov Taft is considering the budget now and is expecting to act on it
within just a day or two).
>
> Please send Governor Taft an email -- or call his office and complain
about the proposed increase. His email address and phone number are set
forth below. Also below is a copy of an email I sent to the Governor this
morning. You may also want to mention that many people begin researching
their family histories after retirement -- but the proposed increase will
make that cost prohibitive for them in particular.
>
> If just half of the subscribers to the Ohio rootsweb lists contact the
Governor, we may be able to stop the increase.
>
> If yoiu want the Governor to send you a written response, you must include
your snail mail address. (I included mine.)
>
> Thanks
> Mick Burdge
> Dayton, Ohio
>
> Governors email address:
>
>
> His office phone numbers:
> (614) 466-3555
> (614) 644-0957
>
> Yoiu can find your state senators & representatives here:
> http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/
>
> My email to his office this morning:
>
> Dear Governor Taft --
>
> I am asking that you please use your line item veto, and whatever other
powers you have, to remove the proposed increase in the cost of obtaining
death and birth certificates -- to be specific, please remove from the
proposed budget the requirement that the public can obtain such vital
records only in the form of expensive certified copies. The proposal would
mean that the Ohio public would have to suffer an increase from $1 to $17
per copy.
>
> It is quite ironic that in the year 2003, while Ohio purports to celebrate
its bicentennial, Ohio is about to enact legislation that makes it too
expensive to research part of Ohio's history. The proposed budget will
eliminate uncertified copies that so many historians, genealogists, and
newspaper reporters use in researching early Ohioans. Perhaps a reasonable
and modest increase to $2 for uncertified copies would be appropriate; but
raising the cost from $1 to $17 is outrageous. The proposed increase will
make it cost prohibitive for Ohioans to conduct family and genealogical
research in this state. These records, especially death certificates, are
critical to doing proper research. Death certificates contain names of
parents, places of birth, and other information necessary to do proper
research.
>
> I understand that the Dept of Health has stated that it needs to increase
the fees for such records because it does not receive enough in fees to pay
for the manpower necessary to fulfill requests. In my opinion, that is a
false and pretextual position -- and attempt to continue it current
unreasonable restriction on access to public records. The fact is that the
dept makes it virtually impossible for researchers to access the records to
conduct their own research. If the dept would make the records more
accessible for citizens to do their own research, the dept could avoid the
high labor costs it complains about. In order to research the records a
person has to make an appointment about 2-3 weeks in advance because the
dept places an unreasonable restriction on the number of researchers per
day. Then the dept charges just $3 for doing research for a 10-year period.
No wonder the dept fees do not pay for the labor costs involved. If the
dept would make the records mor!
> e accessible and charge an appropriate fee for doing research, it would no
have to raise the raise the cost of certificates from $1 to $17.
>
> Let me give three examples that show how the proposed increase will make
research cost prohibitive. (1) Last year, I prepared a family history
report as a gift for an Ohio citizen that served as a pilot in both World
War II and the Korean War. His ancestors were some of the first to settle
in the Cincinnati area when it was then called Columbia in the Northwest
Territory. One of his ancestors is mentioned in an article in the first
newspaper printed in the Northwest Territory. In the course of doing that
research, I had to get copies of about 30 death certificates. Insofar as the
certificates were for research purposes, I did not need them to be certified
and my cost was $1 per record, a total of about $30. Under the proposed
budget, I would have to pay for certified copies at $17 each -- a total of
$510 -- even though I did all the research to determine the precise record
that I needed. There is no way I could afford to make that kind of gift.
(2) This year, I made a!
> similar gift to another Ohio elderly Ohio citizen who served in World War
II at Normandy. I had to obtain about 27 uncertified death certificates at
a cost of $27. Under the proposed budget, the cost would be $459. (3) Over
the last five years, in researching my own family, I have obtained
approximately 300 uncertified death records. The proposed budget would make
that absolutely cost prohibitive -- $5100.
>
> Also, please note that the Mormon research facilities are no substitute
for public access to Ohio public records. Moreover, the Mormon library's
material does NOT include Ohio birth and death records after 1908. There is
nearly a 100 year gap between the info at the Mormon library and today's
records.
>
> The simple fact is this -- there is no legitimate reason why researchers
should not be able to do their own research, and to pay for the actual cost
of obtaining copies that their own research has identified and located.
>
> Please, please -- do not eliminate uncertified copies of vital records --
and do not allow the cost of vital records to increase to $17 each. Such an
increase will put an end to family and genealogical research in this state.
>
> Thanks for listening -- and I hope to read in the newspaper that you have
vetoed such an increase.
>
> Michael J. Burdge
>
>
>
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