Follow Friday - California State Genealogical Allinace Blogs

The following announcement was written by the California State Genealogical Alliance:

20 December 2011– Oakland, CA. The California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA), announces two new blogs for the genealogical public.

(1) The CSGA Blog (http://www.csga.com/Blog/) is a joint society effort to keep the California Genealogical community informed. Topics include:

• Legislative issues affecting California genealogists
• California Projects including our FamilySearch partnership, the California Online Research Aid, the California Wiki on FamilySearch, and the many individual society projects throughout the state.
• California societies, websites, repositories, online materials and events.
• Posting to the blog are seasoned bloggers, Sheri Fenley and Gena Philbert-Ortega, and newcomers Junel Davidsen, CGSM and Cath Madden Trindle, CGSM.

(2) Csgacopyright (http://csgacopyright.wordpress.com), the second blog, is a continuation in our effort to help the genealogical community understand copyright issues. The blog discusses copyright law, provides links and feeds to other copyright web sites and will highlight blog postings on other sites.

About The California State Genealogical Alliance
The California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA) was founded in 1982 and links genealogical societies and individuals throughout California who are interested in coordination and communication between societies as well as preservation of California’s rich genealogical history. To learn more, visit http://www.csga.com.

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society is a member of CSGA. 
This announcement appeared on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Posted by Denise Hibsch Richmond

Legislative Alert: Vital Records

The Legislative Watch Chairperson of the California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA) sent the following alert:

Assemblymember Gordon has introduced AB 1053 which has been referred to the Committee on Appropriations. Hearing will held on Wednesday, May 18th.

This bill would raise the basic fee for certified copies of vital records by $9 from the current $3. In other words, $9 will be added to the current fee for vital records. Example: If a county currently charges $19 for a birth record, the new fee would be $28. This is an enormous increase!

For questions regarding various fee elements being charged for vital record copies, please reference the pie chart in the 2011 Jan-Feb CSGA newsletter (member login required). The basic fee is being increased and added to other surcharges and program fees.

This increase would affect all vital records regardless of when the records were created. It is unfortunate that the increase would also apply to records created prior to 1906.

The full text of the bill is here.  The pertinent bill text is in Section 5. Use your computer's "find" function to search for "SEC. 5" without quotes.   The list State Assembly Appropriations Committee members is here.  The roster of State Assembly Members is here.

Today and tomorrow [May 16-17], you may wish to contact your Assemblymember, Assemblymember Gordon, or members of the Committee to object to this proposed fee increase as 'unreasonable' before it goes to committee on Wednesday.