Legislature Reacts to Privacy and Budgets
Posted on February 8, 2003 by Mic Barnette
LEGISLATORS REACT TO PRIVACY AND BUDGETS
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
This year’s legislative season is in full swing and legislators in several states are considering legislation contrary to the concerns of genealogists and historians.
The Records Preservation and Access Committee of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and National Genealogical Society has created a website at http://www.fgs.org/rpa/ to address these concerns. Readers are urged to bookmark and visit the website often. On the Current Issues link one will find the most up to date legislative information concerning Texas and other states.
Currently there are eight bills in the Texas Legislature seeking to close or restrict access to DD214 or military discharges of Texas veterans. There are six bills in the House (HB 18, 142, 165, 198, 199 and 545) and two in the Senate (SB 81 and 85). Only one bill, HB545 sponsored by Representative Wohlgemuth, allows for the record to be open after being a closed record for 50 years.
To read the full text of any of the aforementioned bills go to the Texas Legislature website at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ and conduct a Quick Bill Status search for the bill of interest.
https://www.chron.com/life/article/Your-Family-Tree-2103188.php
Click on the link to visit the website
Your Family Tree
Update on DD-214 legislation
MIC BARNETTE
Feb. 15, 2003Updated: Aug. 18, 2011 10:26 a.m.
Last week this column reported there were eight bills concerning DD-214s and military discharges pending in the Texas Legislature. These records are used by veterans and their families to prove military service and eligibility for veterans benefits. Currently they are considered open records and are maintained in the office of each county clerk in Texas.
While there has been no law requiring discharges be filed with county clerks it has been a common practice since at least World War I. Returning and retiring military personnel have been urged by each of the services to file their discharges with county clerks. Until Now.
In January 2002 an article, DD-214 Scams Target Veterans For Identity Theft, written by Staff Sgt. Marcia Triggs of the Army News Service reported the actions of an unscrupulous attorney who allegedly downloaded several thousand social security numbers from DD-214s from an internal courthouse computer system which he sold to credit thieves. The article was republished throughout the military community’s media resulting in an understandable near hysteria among retirees and veterans organizations.
The military services reacted swiftly to the concerns caused by the article and its follow-up articles by not publishing social security numbers on newly issued DD-214 certificates. They also suggest their members not file their DD-214 military discharges with county clerks. Now, Texas veterans and their organizations are justly asking the Texas Legislature to protect them from credit thieves.
Historically social security numbers replaced military service numbers on DD-214s beginning about 1968. They were used until the services ceased using them in early 2002 due to the current crisis. Thus military discharges and DD-214s issued prior to 1968 do not contain social security numbers.
A devastating fire in July 1973 at the Military Personnel Records Center in Saint Louis, Missouri destroyed between 16 and 18 million military personnel 201 files. As a result of the fire 80% of the Army’s military personnel 201 files dating from 1912 to 1960 and 75% of the Air Force military personnel files dating between 1947 and 1964 were destroyed. To make matters worse, the files were not microfilmed, there were no duplicate files nor was there a master index to the files.
An alternate source used by family historians and other researchers to locate information on the military service of a relative or citizen of the community is the DD-214s and military discharges maintained in the county clerk’s office.
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The dilemma for legislators is is there a reason to restrict access to DD-214s? Heavy pressure from veterans organizations to close the records is being applied to legislators to do so. However, since older DD-214s do not contain social security numbers and most of the military personnel files no longer exist it is hoped any legislation if passed would place restrictions only on those DD-214s containing social security numbers.
For up to date information on DD-214 and other pending legislation and how to contact Texas legislators, visit http://hgftx.org/legislation.
The information below was published in the Houston Chronicle March 1 2003
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE WEBSITE CREATED
A website and mailing list has been created at http://micbarnette.bravepages.com to keep readers updated on the status of bills of importance to genealogists and historians pending in the Texas Legislature .
Visit the website to learn the latest information on the DD 214 military discharge and other bills pending in Texas and other states. Paramount on the website is a discussion of Identity theft and public records. In addition learn the latest information on Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush’s quest to dismantle the Florida State Library and Archives.
Update on Texas Legislative Issues
Posted on May 17, 2003 by Mic Barnette
UPDATE ON TEXAS LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
Readers have been asking for the latest news concerning legislative issues in the Texas Legislature affecting genealogy. This column last reported on them in February and an update is quite timely as several of the bills should be ready for a vote within the next few weeks. For a more in-depth report visit the legislative reporting website at http://micbarnette.bravepages.com . This same website contains links to the Texas legislature website and explains how to find the text of bills and how to contact legislators.
When reported in February there were eight bills seeking to make DD 214/Military Discharges confidential. One of those eight bills, HB 545, has emerged as the one likely to be presented to the legislature. It has passed the committee level in both the House and Senate and if passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor will take effect September 1, 2003.
Unfortunately for genealogists and the veterans organizations who petitioned legislators for the bill HB 545 does more harm than good. DD 214/Military Discharges created from 1966 through January 2002 contain social security numbers. To prevent identity theft veterans had hoped to have a bill allowing county clerks to redact or strike out social security numbers in records having them. Current state law does not allow that action.
DD 214/Military Discharges filed from 1966 to January 2002 which contain social security numbers will remain open records under HB 545. DD 214/Military Discharges filed after September 1, 2003 which probably were created after January 2002 and do not contain a social security number will be closed for seventy five years.
The only positive element in HB 545 allows veterans to request the return of his or her DD 214/Military Discharge.
HB 545 will allow veterans and their immediate family to view DD 214/ Military Discharges filed after September 1, 2003 but will close them to public viewing for seventy five years. Judging by the current interest of veterans of WWII and Korea historians and family historians will not be able to view the DD 214/Military Discharges and write about the information in them until the veteran is between one hundred and one hundred twenty five years of age. It is not likely many veterans will live long enough to benefit from public usage of the information available in the records.
Other bills affecting genealogists are SB 861 and SB 174. SB 861, sponsored by Senator Kyle Janek of Houston, will close birth records for seventy five years rather than the fifty years current law dictates.
Senator Jane Nelson’s SB 174 calls for a social security number, if present, to be redacted or stricken by the county clerk from marriage applications filed after September 1, 2003. One wonders why this method of limiting identity theft yet keeping records open could not be used in cases such as HB 545.
The following information is copied here from the Johnson County, Texas County Clerk’s website regarding DD 214s
Military Discharges
Military discharge records filed on or after September 1, 2003 are confidential. Only a qualified applicant may access this information. GC §552.140.
Qualified applicants include; the veteran of record, the legal guardian of the veteran; the spouse, child or parent of the veteran or if none are living the nearest living relative, personal representative of the estate of the veteran; the person named by the veteran or qualified person in an appropriate power of attorney under Section 490, Chapter XII, Texas Probate Code; another governmental body or an authorized representative of the funeral home that assists with the burial of a veteran.
- The record is confidential for 75 years following the date it is recorded with or otherwise first comes into the possession of a governmental body on or after September 1, 2003
- The DD 214 is filed free of charge (Member 4 Copy recommended for filing)
- Certified copies are provided free of charge to qualified applicants only
- These records are located at the Historic Courthouse 2 N Main St. Rm B15 (Basement level) Cleburne TX 76033 (817-202-4000 x 1625)
These are only for records filed in Johnson County. If records were filed outside Johnson County, please contact the Veterans Services Office at 817-556-6351 located at the Historic Courthouse in Downtown Cleburne Room B9 – Handicap entrance on the north side of the building.
A certified copy of a DD 214 can be requested online at www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records or submitted by mail or fax using the SF-180 Form provided on the same website. For customer service, please contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri by calling 314-801-0800.
DE JE VU ONE MORE TIME
Posted on August 2, 2003 by Mic Barnette
DE JE VU ONE MORE TIME
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
This week eleven Texas state senators boarded chartered aircraft and landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico where they plan to stay until Governor Rick Perry’s newly called second special legislative session is over. This is the second time in three months Texas legislative democrats have crossed Texas’ borders avoiding a forced vote on redistricting they can not win. In May over fifty House democrats fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma where they remained until the regular session of that Legislature expired.
Under totally different circumstances and with a different result a similar situation occurred in Tennessee in 1866. In June of that year Radicals in the United States Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution .
The Fourteenth amendment forbade anyone who ever served in any elected office and later supported the Southern Cause from serving in any future elected office. It forbade federal and state governments from paying claims of Southerners arising from the war. And it further took away the citizenship, including voting rights, of most of the South’s leading men.
In the Tennessee Capital legislators debated the issues. The Democrats, primarily those who formerly had supported the Southern Cause, filibustered until they lost control of the debate floor. They then returned to their home district depriving the legislature of a quorum and the ability to cast a vote on the amendment.
The Tennessee Republican leadership called in the Colored Union soldiers guarding Nashville and sent them to arrest the Democrats at their homes. The wayward Democrats were brought to the legislative chambers in chains, placed in chairs, counted present for the quorum and allowed to abstain from voting. The end result was a positive vote ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment.
Because Tennessee ratified the Fourteenth Amendment that state did not suffer the pain and suffering wrought on the other Southern States during Reconstruction. Some Southern states, including Texas, were under the powers of Federal Reconstruction as late as 1876.