Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
RT @heritage_irish: Missed our Irish genealogy news round-up last month? The 1926 census will go online 18 Apr 2026. New records have been…
OUR BILL PASSED the New York State Assembly yesterday -- UNANIMOUSLY! 🤩
It's still not a done deal yet. It has to go to the governor, and be signed, and not have last-minute line-item edits or a veto.
But we are now SO much closer to reforming New York's vital records access!
UPDATE: The proposed state bill we're supporting to put millions of scanned-and-indexed older New York vital records online PASSED the NYS Senate today, 50-9!
Now it needs to go through the Assembly...
You can subscribe to the bill's progress here:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S7782/amendment/A
Our Indexing Week gathered 100 Geneanet members who together indexed 19,000 new names in the New York City Geographical Birth Index! This brings the total to 182,000 in this little-known collection liberated by Reclaim the Records @reclaimtherecs
Here's the official video of our intrepid attorney-by-day (and genealogist-by-night) Michael Moritz bravely arguing (and winning!) our case at the NY Court of Appeals, in case you want to see an episode of "Law and Order: Special Genealogy Unit".
We won the New York State Death Index, 1880-2017! A big, big win for open records in New York State! -
@ReclaimTheRecs That is incredible, huge congratulations!! 🎉👏 What an amazing victory for access, transparency, and genealogists everywhere. 💪📜 From all of us at the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, we’re cheering you on and celebrating this win right alongside you!
.@ReclaimTheRecs #LetFreedomRing
#NY #NYC
You guys...? We did it. 🥰
We won the FULL NEW YORK STATE DEATH INDEX FOR 1880-2017!
We beat the largest government agency in the state of New York (@HealthNYGov), in the highest court of the state, through a Freedom of Information Law (#FOIL) suit. 😎
big big big news that's been YEARS in the making
and tomorrow's the day when we're finally going to tell you guys all about it
but for tonight, enjoy a little hint (lawyer-approved) 😊