BRB's Public Records Blog

Ohio Vital Records

Effective October 16, 2009, the cost of obtaining a certified copy of a birth or death record from the Ohio Office of Vital Statistics increased from $16.50 to $21.50 per record.
 
Note that the Office of Vital Statistics does not issue marriage licenses or divorce decrees - they are issued by the probate court or clerk of courts. But the state office maintains an index with limited information on the abstracts of marriages and divorces that occurred in Ohio from January 1, 1954 to present, and will perform a search of years for $3.00 per last name. The search can be used to locate actual licenses or decrees from the courts.  

Fee Increases At Clerk's Office - Macomb County, Michigan

November 1, 2009 there will be fee increases for court record copies and for certified copies of certain public records. At the 16th Circuit Court, plain copies will increase from $.40 per page per copy to $1.00 per page. The $10.00 certified fee remains the same; however, certified copies of vital records will increase to $15.00 for the first copy and $5.00 for each additional copy. Search fees for the Clerk's records did not increase.

The fees for copies or searches from the Register of Deeds remain the same.
See www.macombcountymi.gov/clerksoffice/#

Fee Increases for Alabama Vital Records

Effective October 1, 2009, the fees for copies of vital records will increase from $12.00 to $16.00 per record and from $4.00 to $6.00 for a second copy. Also, the fee for expedited service will increase, from $10.00 to $15.00.

South Carolina Vital Records

The SC Department of Health and Environmental Control recently announced that their walk-in customer service office for vital records area will temporarily close beginning November 3. The closure is due to construction. The building is expected to re-open in March 2009. All other methods of ordering vital records will be available.

For more information about SC vital records, see the DHEC's web site at www.scdhec.gov.

Order Vermont Vital Records Online

Vermont vital records can be ordered online at https://secure.vermont.gov/BGS/vitalrecords/.    The records are sold to the public for a $10 fee (credit cards accepted)  and mailed within 5 -7 business days.  Available records include birth, death, marriage, divorce, civil union, and civil union dissolution certificates.

RI Plans Fee Increase for Vital Records

By the end of the Summer, the Rhode Island State Department of Health, Division of Vitals Records, will increase the base fee for birth, death, and marriage records. The record fee will increase from $15.00 for a 2-year search and $.50 each additional year to $20.00 for a 2-year search and $2.00 for each additional year. Divorce records are not available from this agency and must be searched at the four county Family Courts.

Guilford County, North Carolina Removes Public Records From The Web

Citing identity theft and fraud concerns, the Register of Deeds for Guilford County has removed marriage, birth and death records from the county’s Internet site.  Land records are still available online.  Records are available at the county offices in Greensboro and High Point.  For more information call 336-641-7556.  Visit Guilford County website.

Texas SSN Redaction Update

Texas House Bill 2061, which repeals a 2003 law that banned public disclosure of Social Security Numbers, passed the House this week and moves on to the Senate.  See our March 2 posting for more background information. View Bill Folder.

Summary of Texas Situation

On Wednesday February 21, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott handed down an opinion that per the state Public Information Act (PIA) all Texas county clerks were immediately prohibited from displaying the Social Security Number of a living person on county clerk records made available to the general public. The records affected include real property, liens, birth,death, marriage, and court records held by the County Courts. Since there was no logistical way for the clerks to realistically perform a redaction, a severe shut down in county services performed by county clerks ensued. All commerce associated with any business entity using these records in the normal course of business was immediately affected. Although the PIA pinion did not affect court records held by the county-based District Courts, a number of District Court Clerks also closed down record access to their felony, probate, and civil case records.

The ensuing panic was sufficient enough that on February 28th, Attorney General Abbott abated the opinion for a period of 60 days. This abatement will enable the Texas legislation and the county clerks to plan a course of action on how to deal with the edict. While is it uncertain what the final outcome will be, the probability is that the public will eventually be able to access redacted electronic images, or to access electronic and bound indexes then instruct the clerk to retrieve an edited or redacted copy of the document or image without the SSNs.

Click Here to read the opinion and abatement.

TX Clerks Get 60 Day Reprieve

AG Abbott has given lawmakers 60 days to correct a disclosure problem involving Social Security Numbers.  During this time period the AG reported his opinion “will have no force or effect.”  Abbott admitted his ruling had brought “a virtual halt to a tremendous amount of business and commerce in Texas.”

In the meantime Rep Keffer, the House Ways and Means Chairman and sponsor of SB 2061, will continue to work on legislation.  It is reported that it may cost hundreds of millions of dollars and years to comply with the ruling.