(US-OK) New Law Requiring Online Indexes of Birth and Death Records and More

[Jan Meisels Allen janmallen@att.net]

X-No-archive: yes
The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSHD) and the Oklahoma Genealogical
Society (OGS) worked together to bring vital records online. The new website, OK2
Explore, premiering on Monday, January 9, 2017 will permit users to search vital
records and to purchase copies. The great news is that genealogists and others will
be able to view the indexes for Oklahoma birth records after 20 years and death
records after five years! The new website
may be accessed at: https://ok2explore.health.ok.gov/. This is a free searchable
index of births and deaths for records past the embargo dates mentioned above.
Anyone may search the website using any combination of the subject's name, date of
birth or death, county of the event and sex of the person. Certified copies of the
records of interest may be ordered for a fee from the website. Closed records-
those less than the 5/20 years still must meet eligibility requirements. There is a
listing of who is eligible.

Genealogists will need written permission from the subject if alive or a
family member if the subject is deceased, and proof of relationship between
the family member and the deceased is required. Read
https://www.ok.gov/health/Birth_and_Death_Certificates/Genealogists/index.html for
more information about genealogists. The open index (post embargo dates)
is a way of balancing privacy rights of the living and recently deceased and
researching family history. The OGS were part of the testing phase and gave
feedback to the OSHD.

You may recall that only a few short years ago Oklahoma law required only
the named person (deceased) to be able to order their own death record. The
new legislation enacted in 2016, permits birth records to be embargoed for
125 years and death records for 50 years. The 2016 legislature determined
that these records, available after embargo dates should be open records.
Proof of eligibility is not required.

Representative Hall and Senators Holt and Pittman were the primary authors
on the legislation, HB 2703. The law required the State Department of Health
to make available the online public index of the birth and death records by
July 1, 2017. The release on January 9 is six months ahead of the required
deadline. To access the legislation go to:
http://www.oklegislature.gov/AdvancedSearchForm.aspx and place HB2703 in
the bill number search box, and look for the engrossed version of the bill.
Unfortunately, there was no link to the bill, but there is a download in Word.

Thank you to Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist and member of the Records
Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) for sharing the information.

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watch JewishGen’s video – click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nASSn4rDXh4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Planning to use Ancestry.com? Start by using the "Ancestry Search Box"
on the JewishGen homepage.
By doing this, any eventual subscription to Ancestry.com will result in
Jewishgen receiving a commission.
It’s an easy way to help JewishGen!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support JewishGen with a contribution to the JewishGen General Fund!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jewishgen-erosity/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sign up for the JGFFAlert!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/jgff-faq.html#q3.7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join our mailing list at http://lyris.jewishgen.org/ListManager if you
would like the convenience of receiving all soc.genealogy.jewish posts in
your mailbox, instead of having to search for them in the newsgroup, whose
content may not be consistently carried in its entirety by all providers.