Testimony on AB709

 

This from 1998, where the Department of Health and Family Services was not able to cite a single case where a per 1907 record was used in a fraudulent manner.   The burden of proof should be on the Register of Deeds Association to show how any of the documents could possibly be used to perpetrate identity theft.

 

There is no continued justifiable reason to keep records that old under the Chapter 69 safeguards.   It's time they be reclassified as public records under Chapter 19.  Its overdue to end the regulatory overreach where the WHS is a custodian of the older records, but they use this statutory vacuum to maintain a functional copyright on what are supposed to be a public government documents at some point of expiry of fraud concerns.    Continuation of these inappropriately used legal mechanism is regulatory capture.

 

Background to the bill.  Films were created in 1981 and it was common place for researchers to make copies at the cost of the copy as determined by who held the microfilm.  In 1997 is was discovered that this practice technically violated the laws, and as a result those repositories disallowed such copying.  Multiple people brought up the concept that fraudulent identification could be obtained with a pre 1907 record is unrealistic.  Realistically this would have been the time to address the bigger issue of do these need to remain classified as vital records?

 

It's also worth investigating if  the DHS, WRDA or WHS receives kickbacks, referral fees, or specific "service grants" from private vendors (like Ancestry or VitalChek) that are contingent on keeping records restricted or funneled through a specific portal, as that is potential self-dealing.  Till the arrangement with Ancestry is made public, assume the worst.