BRB's Public Records Blog

California Birth and Death Certificates

Effective January 1, 2012, the fee for a certified copy of a birth, death, or fetal death certificate increases by $2.00 per record. This increase will take place at the California Department of Heath (CADH) and also at the county level. The fees at various county clerk and recorder's offices vary and do not necessarily have the same fee structure as the CADH.

The fee increase is part of Assembly Bill 1053 signed by the governor. The legislation also provides for two additional $2.00 increases to take place January 1, 2013 and January 1, 2014. View AB-1053 at www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.

Motor Vehicle Record News

Arkansas
As of December, 2011. Arkansas Drivers may now request, view and print their own record online at https://www.ark.org/personal_tvr/index.php. The name, DOB, DL, the DL issue date, and last five digits of the SSN are required along with a major credit card. The fee is $8.50 for an insurance record or $11.50 for a commercial record.
Another new development in Arkansas is the CDL Medical Certificate data will now displayed on commercial records. For more information about this certificate, visit  www.dfa.arkansas.gov/offices/driverServices/Pages/medCert.aspx 
 
Oregon

The Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) recently signed a contract with NIC to provide E-Government services on behalf of Oregon state agencies. DAS has an agreement with DMV for the exclusive rights to have NIC provide access to electronic driving records through the new state web portal once developed. This new service only involves electronic driving records. Vehicle records are not part of the arrangement, nor are any other DMV records offered via electronic or hardcopy.

 The changeover to the NIC processing will mean an signficant increase in the cost of obtaining OR driving records. No timetable or fee change annoucement has been made at this time. At present, the Oregon fee of $2.00 per electronic driving record is well below the national average of $8.39. The new fee is expected to be close to the national average.

Wyoming

The fee for an electronic driving record in Wyoming will increase from $3.00 to $5.00 effective January 1, 2012. The fee for a manually processed record remains the same at $5.00. 

 

News From Courts

Hawaii
Hawaii recently upgraded the electronic access to the state's Circuit Court records though Ho'ohiki. Users of the system had been experiencing excessive waits and delays. The Judiciairy added additional slots which should alleviate much of the wait time. The long term plan is to replace Ho'ohiki with a new platform for Circuit Court information on the state's Judiciary Information Management System.

However, be aware there are gaps in time periods Ho'ohiki, depending on the District. Also, these records are not considered "official" - there is a strong disclaimer at the site. It is advised to use caution if this site is the only source for FCRA compliant searches.

See www.courts.state.hi.us/legal_references/records/search_court_records.html
 
Nebraska
The ability to electronically file probate case in any of the 93 counties has been added to the Nebraska Judicial eFiling system. This includes cases involving estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and trusts. Civil, criminal and juvenile case types are already part of eFiling. 

See www.supremecourt.ne.gov/court-information-tech/e-filing.shtml

Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has modified an earlier position and has determined that the filing of court documents should include the full date of birth and the full DOB should not be excluded from public documents. An earlier decision would have limited the disclosure of this identifier.

The Judiciary is in the process of developing a single statewide court database system. Eventually the public will have access to case information from all of the 77 county courts on one platform. Currently there are two systems that together provide case information online from 76 counties. At present, records from Cimarron County are not on either system.

For more information on the systems visit www.oscn.net.

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Circuit Court Access system (WCCA) is a very popular public online access mode for case and docket information. One of the drawbacks to the system is the lack of records from Portage county.  Recently the WCAA announced the addition of Portage court records dating back 25 years. However, users should be aware this case information will not show up on the WCCA for several more months. The data is being slowly added while being checked for completeness and accuracy. A statewide WI check should still include an onsite search in Portage for the next several months.

WCAA is accessible at  http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl.
 
 

Key Recording Fee Changes For July 1, 2011

Iowa
Effective July 1, 2011, recording fees will decrease by $2.00. The fee for the first
page of all documents (standard size) will be $7.00; it was $9.00. Each additional page will still be $5.00.
 
Maryland
A $20 surcharge is imposed on all recorded instruments including Deeds, Deeds of Trust (Mortgages), and Powers of Attorney. Note the surcharge will only affect instruments executed on or after July 1, 2011. Any documents executed prior to this date will not be affected. For example the typical cost of recording a real estate sale will increase from $40 to $60.
 
New Mexico
The state is changing the its fee procedure for recording documents. Effective July 1, 2011, the cost to record a document will be $25.00; however, this will include up to a block of 10 entries in the index of the county recording district. Each addition entry group up to 10 will be an additional $25.  This new price structure will actually lower the cost of recording many documents.
 
See www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/11%20Regular/final/SB0369.pdf
 
Kerns County, California
Recording fees will increase by $6.00 for all documents (except Maps and UCCs).

New Hampshire Courts Reorganization: The New Circuit Courts

Effective July 1, 2011, a new Circuit Court system in New Hampshire will consolidate the existing 32 District Courts, 10 Probate Courts, and 25 Family Courts.  Under the new system each county will have a Circuit Court with three Divisions: District, Family, and Probate.
All current District Court locations will remain open. In most counties, the probate case records will be maintained in the District Court located at the county seat. The District Division will continue to handle misdemeanor, traffic, civil actions under $25,000, small claims, and landlord-tenant cases. The Probate Division will still have jurisdiction over wills, trusts and estates, guardianships and involuntary commitment proceedings, adoptions, name changes and partition of real estate. In most counties, the probate case records will be maintained in the District Court located at the county seat. Family Division cases include divorce/parenting action, child support, domestic violence petitions, guardianship of minors, termination of parental rights, abuse/neglect cases, children in need of services, juvenile delinquency, and some adoptions.

At present, each District Court maintains its own database of records and most case records have not been placed into electronic format; they are in paper format. The new law does not provide for a centralized Circuit Court repository for the existing or future District records. The assumption is that a search of District level records in a county will still require a search at each of the District Divisions in that county, unless the Circuit Clerk decides to consolidate the records. Also keep in mind there can be District Courts that cover portions of two counties. For example the Franklin District Court jurisdiction includes towns from two counties - Merrimack and Belknap.
 

Indiana GEDs

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development has outsourced all requests for GED verifications, transcripts, and diploma copies to a designated vendor - Diploma Sender.  The state agency will no longer process any requests.
Diploma Sender is found at www.diplomasender.com
 
All requests must be ordered online. Most results are available in 1 to 3 days. The fee is $5.00 for an employment verification letter and $15.00 for a duplicate GED certificate or transcript. Diploma Sender will not process direct requests from employers, schools, or third parties. However the student can still direct Diploma Master to provide the document to the third party. The third party must first be registered and then must be provided an authentication code by the test taker.
 
Email questions to support@diplomasender.com responses are promised in one business day. Diploma Sender personnel will not answer the telephone.
 

SSN Randomization Issuance Begins

June 24th, 2011 was the last day the Social Security Administration (SSA) assigned a Social Security Number (SSN) based on the numeric order within a state's allocation of the first 5 digits. All unassigned numbers within the numeric sequence have now been placed in a random pool. Effective June 27, the assignment of a new SSN is much like a lottery; a random number is drawn from the unassigned pool of 420 million numbers  available for assignment.
 
For example, the Series of 048-15-xxxx was assigned to CT and was used to issue new SSNs. Effective June 27, all of the possible unassigned numbers within that Series have been assigned to the random pool. Therefore someone in any state or an immigrant coming into the country could be assigned an SSN in the 048-15 series this year or any year in the future. There are 755 Series groups that were in the process of being assigned as of June 2011. There are over 75,000 groups have had all possible numbers within the group previously assigned. 

For years employers, investigators and background screening firms have used software with the assigned SSN groups and corresponding state/date range to validate the state and year of issuance an SSN. The fact that the SSA will no longer provide the ability to validate newly issued numbers has upset quite a few businesses and employers. However, these validations will still be useful, although they will diminish in value over time. Most people entering the workforce were assigned an SSN well before June 27, 2011. The primary people entering the workforce with a new randomly assigned SSN will be immigrants.
 
The Social Security Administration will continue to provide opportunities for direct name based SSN verification. Internet based verification services include:
The Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS)  which is free to use for wage reporting purposes
eVerify
Consent-Based SSN Verification Service (SBSV)
There are stipulations. For example, the cost for SBSV is $5,000 to sign-up and $5.00 per verification.

For questions about the randomization process, email ssn.randomization@ssa.gov or visit www.ssa.gov/employer/randomization.html.

Three States Modify Civil Case Jurisdiction Limits Effective July 1, 2011

Virginia
Effective July 1, 2011, the maximum civil jurisdictional limit in the General District Courts increases from $15,000 to $25,000. The mimimum cvil amount at upper court - the Circuit Court - remains the same at $4,500. Therefore civil actions from $4,500 through $25,000 are concurrent and be filed at either court. There was no change to the Small Claims limit which remains at $5,000 in the General District Court.

Wyoming
Effective July 1, 2011, the exclusive jurisdiction amount for civil actions at the state's Circuit Courts increases from $7,000 to $50,000. The WY District Courts will now oversee civil cases involving a sum greater than $50,000.  Also effective July 1, 2011, the maximum amount for a Small Claims case (tried at the Circuit Court Level) is raised from $5,000 to $6,000. These actions are the result of Bill SF0015. 
 
Montana
Effective July 1, 2011, the District Courts, which are the general jurisdiction courts, will only try civil matters exceeding $12,000. The previous limit was $7,000. The courts of limited jurisdiction, which are Justice Courts, City Courts and Municipal Courts, will have the max civil limit amount raised from $7,000 to $12,000. The Small Claims maximum limit will increase as well, from $3,000 to $7,000. These actions are a result of SB 238 
 
 

Battle Over NC Court Criminal Record Access Continues

As previously reported, the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) ceased providing the licensees of the ACIS Daily Criminal Extract with the criminal case details. Court details now must be accessed in person or by using an old, antiquated technology system called The Green Screen. This move altered the way tens of thousands of criminal records are accessed in North Carolina.
 
In response to the NCAOC's mandate, several vendors filed suit in the Wake County, NC. The case is 11 CVS 1548 COURT VENTURES INC. and HIREASE INC (plaintiffs)   v. NORTH CAROLINA ADMINISTRTAIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS and JOHN W. SMITH, II (in his capacity as Director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts) (defendants).
 
An point of contention in this court case has led to the introduction of legislation in North Carolina - Who is the custodian of these court records? Evidently the county clerks are saying that the AOC is the custodian of the records, and the AOC is saying the county clerks are the custodians. Once it is determined who is the custodian, then the case will likely focus on the contractual obligation to provide public records.
Below are further details.
 
Referencing CVS 1548, in section 61 of the NCAOC's First Defense Response, the defendants deny that they are the custodians of any public information in the ACIS database, although they admit they maintain the database. The defendants allege that the 100 clerks of courts are the custodians of the records. In Section 5 the AOC denies that "this is a public record action in that the relationship between plaintiffs and AOC are governed by contracts entered into pursuant to N.C Gen Stat. § 7A-109."
 
On April 6, House Bill 859l regarding AOC/Custody and Availability of Court Records was filed in the NC State legislature. The bill is meant to "...clarify that the Administrative Office of the Courts is a custodian of court records...those court records are a public record..."  The bill re-writes portions of section 7A-109.
 
The phone number for the Wake County Clerk of Court is 919-792-4000. The current version of the House Bill is viewable at:
www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H859v1.pdf.  

Free Copies of 2011 PRRN Membership Directory for Special Distribution

While supplies last, BRB Publications is providing copies of the 2011 PRRN Membership Directory free of charge to interested organizations for distribution at meetings or conventions. Public Record Retriever Network (PRRN) is the organization that set the first Industry Standards for the retrieval of public record documents and whose members abide by a Code of Professional Conduct.
 
The Membership Directory is 240 pages and organized in two sections. The first shows retrievers by state and county, indicating on-site researchers who visit courthouses and recorder's offices. The second section provides a full profile of each member.
 
This offer is only for mass distribution by organizations. If you are interested, please reach Mike Sankey at 800-929-3811 or mike@brbpublications.com.