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our fifty-first please-stop-trying-to-take-our-records-away newsletter
New York Wants to Lock Up Vital Records — Again!
Here’s How We Can Stop It, If We Act Fast
A backdoor proposal to essentially ban public access to birth, marriage, and death records got snuck into their annual budget bill?!
Hi again from Reclaim The Records, that little non-profit which likes to pry historical and genealogical files and databases out of government archives, libraries, and agencies, and then puts them all online for totally free public use. And we’re back in your inbox today with some absolutely infuriating news about public records access. (There’s a lot of that going around lately, we know, but this one is particularly awful for genealogists.)
We need your help to stop a horrible records access rule change that New York has hidden in its annual budget proposal, and we have only DAYS to get them to stop it. Please read this newsletter carefully, and note what you can do — especially if you are a New Yorker, or someone with New York roots, or you just really really don’t like politicians hiding public access to public records, especially without any public debate or warning.
As part of New York State’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal, Part U of the Health and Mental Hygiene Legislation would:
- Extend embargo periods to 125 years for birth records, 100 years for marriages, and 75 years for deaths — making New York one of the most restrictive states for vital records access in the entire country!
- Hike fees by more than 400%, raising the cost of a single genealogical record request to $95!
- Eliminate even the basic vital records indexes, making it nearly impossible to simply confirm if a record exists in the first place!
The rationale for this sneaky law change claims that this will “streamline operations” and “digitize records,” but the reality is that the state is now trying to dodge their responsibilities. Instead of addressing New York’s five-year backlog of unfulfilled “genealogy requests” from members of the public, who are just trying to get copies of records, the state now wants to rewrite the law to stop serving the public entirely.
And now we need your help to stop them. We just built a brand new website that outlines the proposal, provides detailed context about the state of New York’s vital records, the state’s terrible records management, and their past behaviors which have deprioritized genealogists and records access in general. We’re backing up our words with screenshots of internal state e-mails we’ve gotten over the years through our Freedom of Information requests, copies of state Inspector General reports detailing the state’s records protection problems, and copies of publicly available documents like the state’s multi-million dollar digitization contracts. And we’ve put it all together for you to read.
And here it is:
Learn all about this new awful proposal to cut off public access to New York records, and what you can do to help stop it!:
www.NYSVitalRecords.org
What You Can Do to Help
This is important. We only have a few days, so please do these items as soon as you get this e-mail.
- If You Live in New York:
Call and email your State Senator and Assembly Member immediately. Tell them how this bill will impact you, your business, your research, or your family. Personal emails and phone calls are the most effective—even better if you can request a meeting.
You can find your NYS Senator’s name and contact information here. And you can find your NYS Assembly Member’s name and contact information here.
- For Everyone (Inside & Outside of NY):
Submit Written Testimony — this means your comments about this proposal! — by THIS TUESDAY, February 11 at 5 PM EST!
Send your written testimony to: [email protected] and [email protected].
If you’re a New York resident, your e-mail should also cc: Governor Kathy Hochul at [email protected].
- Spread the Word — TODAY!
Tell your colleagues, genealogy groups, historical societies, social media, and anyone else who values public records. The more voices we have, the stronger our opposition.
- Team Up With Other Organizations
The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) has published their open letter to the New York State Legislature, outlining the significant flaws in the proposed legislation and BVR’s attitude towards the genealogy community.
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B) has also created a landing page with key details about this issue, including additional action steps.
Again, our deadline is THIS TUESDAY, February 11, 2025, at 5 PM EST. And our new website, with alllll the details about this awful proposal, and how to try to stop it, is www.NYSVitalRecords.org . Tell your friends right now!
Help Us Keep Fighting – Donate Today!
Reclaim The Records is a small but mighty organization that fights for public access to historical records. We don’t take government funding — we rely entirely on grassroots support from people like you.
If you believe in open records, transparency, and genealogical rights, please make a donation today.
Every dollar goes directly toward legal efforts, public awareness campaigns, and the fight against record closures like this one.
Click here to donate now! Your support helps us keep up the fight.
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